I believe in practice it does not actually offset the capital gains but reduces my taxable income dollar for dollar with the loss, as long as my Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) is under $150K.

This is to protect sellers but also to encourage buyers and agents to have necessary conversations about how everything works, before jumping straight to house hunting.At the end of the day, I believe the industry will adapt quickly, and these changes can be a positive thing for all sides. 

If they had communicated again on 6/12 to remind you they were moving out on 6/13 would you believe you were entitled to rent through mid July?!?

Their coach told them to specifically seek out these deals believing they can only be acquired with these seller finance terms and wasn't even aware construction financing existed that could easily take down this particular deal.  

Hi Anne,It all depends on your own goals, if you really believe in the area, have done the work and have come to a conclusion that your money is used best in an asset here, then do it.Theres no reward without any risk.

There have been quite a number of red flags and warnings in this thread and many of your responses tend to be, "but what about this and this is why that is" leading me to believe you have already made up your mind that moving forward is a good idea so I wont try and change your mind but again, warn you that some things in this syndication are outside the norm and the promised rates of return (STR's in the package included) are abnormally high leading me to believe that the investors will have a much higher chance of disappointment than satisfaction.

Currently, the back house is not permitted as a living area but I believe as a "Carriage house".

I believe that the marketing and guest acquisition side is overlooked by PMs and people think STR property management is easy. 

I believe one way to help combat that is buying a newer home or even new construction (which most are offering great incentives right now).

If rooms are unavailable this early in the booking cycle, I believe you chose a poor location.