I'd like to hear more about the layout including whether its attached or not.

In your post you lay out some of the common things that lead to low returns when converting a primary residence into a rental.

The room layout must be reasonable for a residential home.

We market the property at lower price and then discuss a sort of 'cost averaging' for that utility during lease signing.Here's another 'out of the box' idea - depending on your layout and climate - you may consider electric baseboard heat as a different option for heat, coupled with using window units for air....Jim

Maybe rivers, lakes, camping, general land layout, quality of the area as a whole--does it seem like a nice area when I drive through.

Correct …. its counter intuitive .. so I was like you thought hey I close on everything.. so I can resell.. but no not in this state.. 

When I called QB (intuit) they suggested reaching out to a certified QB professional from my local area.

Regarding the taxes / deduction, think I’m in the situation you lay out.

Up/down double $57,000 purchase price (hopefully less)PITI = approx $500/mo with 25% down conventional loan$14,250 down + closing costscurrent rents total just over $1200/mo for both - leases in placelandlord currently pays about $200/mo for water/sewer/trashI figure about 10% vacancy and 10% maintenance which leaves me with about $400 monthly cash flowThe two major concerns I have are that it needs a new roof (tear-off) and that it has a funky layout.

Up/down double $57,000 purchase price (hopefully less)PITI = approx $500/mo with 25% down conventional loan$14,250 down + closing costscurrent rents total just over $1200/mo for both - leases in placelandlord currently pays about $200/mo for water/sewer/trashI figure about 10% vacancy and 10% maintenance which leaves me with about $400 monthly cash flowThe two major concerns I have are that it needs a new roof (tear-off) and that it has a funky layout.