Looking for advice on how to maximize tax benefits on an upcoming conversion of my primary home to a long term rental (temporarily).

Financial due diligence is also key; calculate all potential costs and expected income, including mortgage, taxes, management fees, and maintenance.

The best part about it is it's easy to tag your transactions for each property with categories that sync to your Schedule E for taxes, making tax prep super easy.

Long-Term: Appreciation, loan amortization, potential tax benefits, and housing expense savings.I'd say the unexpected benefits of learning property management, deal finding, project management, renovations, and DIY-ing were more impactful than I initially thought.

My debt/income ratio is lower than it really is because I own alot of rentals so for tax purposes and depreciation, my taxes dont show the whole real picture.  

Your monthly payment will be $15,000 and doesn't include taxes or insurance.

Can they be used to cover or prepay the property taxes?

If you finance at 25% down, 25 year amortization and a 7% rate you will not cover mortgage and interest let alone insurance, taxes, vacancy, repair, etc.

I would call at least one prior landlord reference but you may find they don't respond so you may need to call a few.

You also need a tax professional on the project to make certain you obtain every possible, available benefit from the certification.