You must report rental income on Schedule E and can deduct rental expenses like repairs, maintenance, property taxes, mortgage interest (allocated between personal and rental use), and depreciation for the rented portion.

We're based in Tampa and, in addition to personally investing, I own a mortgage company that provides financing for tons of investors.

Raising your credit score will get you far better rates personally as well as with private lenders for your LLC. 

Initially I didn't have a personal connection to the area and didn't know much about the city.

Personal guarantees are EXTREMELY common.

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.

None of this has anything to do with your personal tax return.

Whether the seller was open to a buyer commission or not, I wouldn't put an additional cost into any personal purchase.  

@Kris Lou Many factors go into PMC pricing:1) Locality (city/state)2) Neighborhood & Property Class (time to manage Class A < Class B < Class C < Class D)3) Property condition (slumlord properties hard to manage)4) Number of units (some economies of scale, but not as much as owners think)5) Owner expectations (some owners really want a personal assistant!)

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Joshua KeimAs a fellow Memphis native, I’d love the opportunity to connect in person and discuss strategies with you!