We kind of putted the idea around for awhile.  

With this savings growing quickly, where should we keep our savings to get some kind of a return in the meantime while I crunch numbers, read books and absorb as much as I can before making that first decision?

I kind of wanted to move to Denmark as I am sure it will be a great school with all the latest technology and such.https://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/redistrictingBoth North and Central are good schools, not top tier, but good solid schools that should maintain a god rental.Forsyth is great for all the reasons @Aurelio Kim mentioned.

Kind of small for that price and area as well! 

This type of heating isn't too common around my area so not too familiar with it. 

. $150/sqft... if you want something with "ehhh" finishes then you can probably get down to like 100-125/sqft depending obviously on how much work you give your guys and what kind of relationship you have with them.

Our question is, how common is it to show a loss after depreciation, and how much real estate would we need to purchase to offset, say, 800k of earned income?

On a first deal it is very common to overpay for a property because of lack of experience in running the numbers.  

What kind of liability will I have?

What if the paperwork doesn't check out and you want out but you have no inspection contingency what options do you have then - can there be some kind of 'document review period contingency'?