Should I make that a line item and deduct regular maintenance out of it or do you dump all the expenses into a fund and draw out of that.

., the comp is better), then you would deduct the value of that larger garage from the sale price of the comp to get an "adjusted value" that made it essentially equivalent to the subject property.

I told him if he cleaned the house and was out by the end if the month I would deduct $1600 for current month rent from his $2400 security deposit, refund him the $800 balance and not seek judgement for the remaining lease balance.

Am I way off in thinking that I can deduct my down payment and purchase price from that 240k note?

It's worth noting that these points are deductible but can only be deducted over the life of the property (27.5 years, like depreciation).  

The advantage of depreciation,  other deductions, 1031 exchanges, etc makes it less tax efficient to hold inside a tax deferred retirement account.

Also if I have a seller behind on his payments and decides to sell property are the payments their behind on deducted from the sellers end? 

You are missing the most important thing you can buy yourself,an education.You need to meet with professional wholesalers who have been doing this successfully for some time and ask them how they do it.Apprentice yourself to them for free doing their ground pounding work learning the business as a young college student intern would.Learn how to put together a large list of cash buyers and flippers who need the properties you find to sell them.Learn how to carve out a good territory to farm that has several homes sold in the last two years for top dollar prices and sold the fastest (less than 30 days).Learn how to use postal workers,utilities people,and others to spot bad houses that might be able to be bought cheap.Use high school students involved in sports teams or band to seed your farm with cards and fliers door to door at every property and give them a tax deductible donation to their groups.Promise them a bigger wad of cash if you sell a house they bird dog for you(tax deduction!).

With the new tax laws, interest on HELOCs will no longer be tax deductible.

My wife and I live in a Seattle in a neighborhood that allows for free standing studio and apartment rentals.  Our home has both a 3 car parking pad AND a completely separate oversized 2 car garage (~600 square feet)....