It's common for traveling medical professionals to extend their contracts.

In your experience do you see people commonly attempting to offset ordinary income / W2 with syndicated losses, despite the above?

Both common area TI and unit specific TI.  

"Is it a common practice to report it as a loss even though I fixed it out of my own pocket?" 

Eviction and foreclosure are two common real estate processes where you always want to use a lawyer from beginning to end.

Common fees will include a set-up fee, a leasing fee for each turnover or a lease renewal fee, marking up maintenance, retaining late fees, and more.

There is very little technical knowledge needed, but there is a lot of common sense needed.I would google "rental property investing for beginners" and see what you uncover.  

I don't know your market at all, but it's common for neighborhoods next to the hospital to not always feel safe to out of town nurses--- so just know proximity isn't always the main point.

Very common. 

While there are definitely house hacks that have allowed owners to live for free and show positive cash flow the current interest rates and prices make those less common.