I wasn’t trying to be long winded, with too much detail, in my initial post but I actually did this method on a fix and flip.

While the market has been up for quite some time now, I was just waiting for the next news story that made everyone freak out.I've actually been working with CamaPlan on this project and the experience has been great!

Yes, you can deduct related expenses including gas, loan interest, insurance, etc. using the actual vehicle expenses method to deduct auto expenses for your rental or other businesses. 

There are several different types of income in the US tax code.Two main types are “active income” and “passive income".Active income is money you earn from working, such as wages from a W-2 job or income from running a business.Passive income is money you earn from investments like real estate, stocks, or rental income from your RE portfolio where you earn $ without actively working.Normally, you can't use passive losses (like losses from real estate investments) to offset active income like your salary from a W-2 job.That is unless you are an RE Pro.The reality is, that Real Estate Pro status is just a filing status similar to filing married or jointly.And if you are a real estate professional you CAN use passive real estate losses to offset active income from other sources.To qualify as an RE Pro you must:1.

Most MLS systems will allow you to run a report and see what % of list price are deals actually selling for..

Once you start seeing the deals, I'd start with one market to actually invest before I branch out. 

Any luck on motivating realtors in the area to actually get operating expenses/lease agreements for Jackson County specifically George?

Hopefully someone else will actually have something positive to contribute, instead of a rude response that adds no value, and just adds to post count. 

There are books written about this details but keep you focus on the end goal.The first deal turns theory into actual tenants, actual maintenance problems, etc. 

I actually used to live in the area and self-managed all my properties while I was there.