@J Scott Kim's analogy was about accessing an Experienced Mentor, if you get that free, awesome, if you don't have that luxury then an investor does what is appropriate, get one and pay for it....but most people do not have anyone in their corner that has the experience and knowledge to pull off doing this business on a DIY basis without taking some really good knocks along the way, and I can almost assuredly promise those hard knocks will cost more than a mentoring program ever could.I continue to see folks espousing that they have the skills and abilities to do it (Teach people the business) but they attach a price tag for their time and resources too...so why is it good for one (who has no time to do it, but assigns it a value) and not good for another who is actually doing it and underwriting what that is costing their business to provide?

Most likely going to be a C / section 8? 

There are "turn key section 8" operators in Alabama that market to do all of the due diligence for you and you never even have to see the properties! 

*I may also post this in the legal section as well sorry if you see both.

I ran into this recent TurboTax article  that led me to believe it was possible: Second, you may have a net operating loss (NOL) if the Section 1231 loss is large enough to reduce your other income below zero.

Another detail, the fall is always slow, and with the holidays around the corner, expect December to be a stand still.   

I'm thinking of doing section 8 housing for the one in St.

Section 469(c)(7) provides an exception that allows qualifying taxpayers to treat rental real estate activities as nonpassive, enabling them to deduct losses against other types of income.

However, you could convert the rental property into your primary residence, live there for at least two years, and qualify for the Section 121 exclusion to avoid up to $250K (single) or $500K (married) in capital gains, though depreciation recapture remains taxable.

Bro you gotta go with Section 8 and or EDEN over in that area.