So it's easy to see that this exception virtually prohibits an interest deduction for interest that you pay on loans against your 401(k) or 403(b) plan.

Bridget, @Anson Young hosted an great Podcast that touched on wholesaling strategies:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/09/05/virtual-investing-deals-heated-market-anson-young/In addition, there is a local REI meetup group that you can hit up for expanding your network and getting information regarding "bird dogging" techniques and general Denver market analysis and current events.

I think their demand was virtually 99% of the value of the asset.  

In the mean time maybe I can make some "virtual" contacts.

Callfire.com or voiceshot.com for call blasts; automatically calls and plays recorded messages Use Jing/camtasia/screenr to record videos of your computer screen (for creating training videos for your virtual assitants) Use Odesk/elance/Virtualstafffinder.com to find virtual help Use Vflyers to advertise your properties; it links back to your personal website...make sure to have youtube videos of the property as well.

They maintained it very well, replaced appliances at their expense & had their maintenance guys restore/rebuild the old wood enclosed porch.After another 6 years they moved their Mfg out of the area (to China) & the last guy left all the appliances, furniture, Bose sound system & TV's.We then sold it lease-to-own, took it back after 7 years of pmts & have it rented again!!!

I even show detailed floor plans in the pictures with true dimensions of each room and where the doors, windows, closets are so they can figure out if the furniture.

And there are many whose size, layout, and/or ceiling height make them virtually unrentable.....9x7 masted bedroom with 7' ceilings, no thanks.The more info you can share, the more we can help. 

Is it then a good idea to start in virtual wholesaling?

If you go this route, run Windoze in a virtual machine (Parallels or VMWare) where it is contained ;-)