But the rental too does have to meet the "active conduct of a trade or business" threshold, which does mean you wouldn't qualify to use section 179 if you have a rental that is managed entirely by someone else and you aren't at least overseeing it and making decisions about the management of it.I mostly disagree with the reply suggesting that you need to have an LLC to take the section 179 deduction. 

I'm so sorry this happened to you and great suggestion on adding a paragraph to the lease.  

The only thing I'd suggest is to raise your rents unless you think you're at the top of the market.

They listen to what you suggest and continually improving their software and processes.

If you're getting started, I'd suggest focusing on single-family homes in growth areas with strong population trends—let me know if you need help finding the right deal!

I've seen a few instances on the biggerpockets youtube channel where the comments were suggesting the data used in calculations wasn't accurate.

When calling or visiting, are there any suggestions to get them to expedite this? 

However, saying that there are many companies that do both that are amazing and don't do things like this, so I'm not suggesting that doing both is inherently negative. 

Anyone have any suggestion for me?

Being out of state, I would suggest vetting your "team", meaning find an investor realtor, lender/s (hard $ / long term), property manager, contractors, etc.