They stole our money and the home where my mother passed away.

It costs a lot of money to have people fact check this spreadsheet.

Tax benefits can help make a better business deal, but a bad business deal is hardly ever going to break even just because of tax benefits.The other big consideration you should have, in order to actually benefit from real estate fueled losses or credits, it will require a substantial investment of time - either to get over the material participation thresholds for short term rentals, or to get over the real estate professional thresholds for mid term /  traditional rentals. 

The investment can allow you to share something you own with your family and friends, just like the F-150, but it allows you to make money off your investment, unlike the F-150, as this property is going to maintain its value over the years.

Smart steps include studying the market, planning your money, thinking about law stuff, and looking after the property.

This is ingrained in us because the NAR Code of Ethics prohibits us from soliciting business from another realtor's clients, but there's also a certain protocol and level of professional courtesy involved, and listing agents expect to hear from the buyer's agent if the buyer is represented.I've also had instances where a seller inadvertently sent documents directly to the other agent before I reviewed them, and it ended up costing them time and money.

Make offers on both properties at a price point that makes sense for you to make money and considers the cost to renovate & the vacancy rates.

My thinking is the storage unit at 2600 mo is much more wiser than 54k in the money market at 5.2 %. 

@Ramiro De Leon Congrats on taking the first step of saving up money and preparing yourself for your first purchase!

Any other considerations?