If you use insurance to make ordinary repairs, it will eventually drive up costs.

Start small - get yourself a househack, learn from your own experience of owning the rental property you live in, continue to educate yourself with reliable resources, and then worry about the next home.Having just one solid investment will put you ahead of most Americans than trying to find a way to buy 10 doors out of state in an area you don't even understand. 

A real estate professional is allowed to take rental losses against ordinary income.

The cost segregation study generated $80k in passive losses, meaning a portion of that would be recaptured as ordinary income (at a 25% federal rate).

(vii) would seem to indicate that you'd be acting as an unlicensed broker.(1) "Broker":(A) means a person who, in exchange for a commission or other valuable consideration or with the expectation of receiving a commission or other valuable consideration, performs for another person one of the following acts:(i) sells, exchanges, purchases, or leases real estate;(ii) offers to sell, exchange, purchase, or lease real estate;(iii) negotiates or attempts to negotiate the listing, sale, exchange, purchase, or lease of real estate;(iv) lists or offers, attempts, or agrees to list real estate for sale, lease, or exchange;(v) auctions or offers, attempts, or agrees to auction real estate;(vi) deals in options on real estate, including a lease to purchase or buying, selling, or offering to buy or sell options on real estate;(vii) aids or offers or attempts to aid in locating or obtaining real estate for purchase or lease;(viii) procures or assists in procuring a prospect to effect the sale, exchange, or lease of real estate;(ix) procures or assists in procuring property to effect the sale, exchange, or lease of real estate;(x) controls the acceptance or deposit of rent from a resident of a single-family residential real property unit;(xi) provides a written analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the estimated price of real property if the analysis, opinion, or conclusion:(a) is not referred to as an appraisal;(b) is provided in the ordinary course of the person's business; and(c) is related to the actual or potential management, acquisition, disposition, or encumbrance of an interest in real property; or(xii) advises or offers advice to an owner of real estate concerning the negotiation or completion of a short sale; and

As interest rates in the US has skyrocketed and financing has become more available to Americans in certain locations overseas, that advantage isn't what it used to be, depending on what countries you're interested in.So here's how I'd go about it if I were you:1.

@Tanya Maslach,When you take a distribution from an IRA, you are subject to ordinary income tax, plus penalties, if you do it before reaching retirement age. 

You still need material participation to take losses against ordinary income.

They can be used to offset other passive income or be applied against your ordinary income in the year of sale. 

Not all things you consider an expense are honored by the court.For example, in a Colorado Court of Appeals case, “the trial court found that the principal portion of the mortgage payments did not qualify as ordinary and necessary expenses for purposes of calculating child support.”It’s All In The NumbersAccording to the Census Bureau, “Parents who received regular child support payments received a monthly average of $604 and a monthly median of $396 in 2017.”