You can plan ahead now based on what to expect but this doesn't mean your outcome will turn out the same as your friend experienced.

It makes the accounting process easier for your tax professional in years ahead as well.

Just a heads up on STR's, you won't be able to operate one in the Austin city limits, and several parts of Travis County, unless you are a primary homeowner.

I wanted to get into this industry for a long time and figured I would get an early start now so that by the time I retired from the military, I would be ahead of the curve.

But in most cases, go ahead and claim 100% if you can. 

All in all I would say the biggest red flags that I'm not sure I could've anticipated without experiencing it for myself were the lack of commitment to the project, lack of project management skills, and lack of planning ahead/ anticipating lead-times of materials.

So from a financial standpoint, if you can continue paying the minimum and putting any additional into income producing investments that can return a rate higher than your interest rate, you will net ahead.  

If you don't take the standard deduction (and most do these days) you could deduct the interest on your mortgage.Looking ahead to next year, you'll file a Schedule E.

Because of the other homes in the neighborhood posted I'm not overly concerned, but want to see if there's a good way that I can find out ahead of making an offer? 

I would definitely go ahead with this 203k loan.