They carry forward indefinitely until you have passive income to offset or you dispose of the 'activity' (i.e. the property).If you're below $150k in AGI, you may be able to use some or all of the tax loss from the rental to offset other taxable income if you can substantiate active participation."

I agree with @Dan Barli, both of those books by @Brandon Turner and @Scott Trench are excellent and have helped me tremendously.

It's certainly not an easy or quick process but it can be an excellent way to literally build equity into your property and get a home designed just how you like it.

Or all but one (you are living in it)?  

Great market, fast growing and excellent purchase price to rent rate ratio.

Excellent job doing what needed to be done. 2 thumbs up!

With regards to the seller financing for either part or all of the funds source... how do you stipulate pre-payment / early payment of the loan?

Realistically you're probably looking at more like 6-6.5% with good-excellent credit.

They just need to be good caretakers of the property they have been entrusted with.Another excellent book for beginner real estate agents is "How to Master the Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins who taught real estate agents the professional way to sell properties.

Just pick one, and get started.As you grow your experience, network, and wealth, you could go in any or all of these directions.