Feel free to make a copy and make changes to any of the adjustments as you please. 

In the midst of the teacher walk-out, which we supported, we also received a pretty large tax benefit from selling a couple of properties and not having to pay Oklahoma capital gains.

Your basis in the property is lesser of the below in the year it was converted to rental: 1) your adjusted basis - ( purchase price adjusted for other various stuff -- such as settlement cost, improvements to your house and so forth. 2) FMV ( which is not a tax assessment) if you have used the wrong basis, in 2016,  to keep things simpler and practical, I would catch up the depreciation to make it correct this year. your depreciation basis is determined on the year it was converted to rental, and generally, does not evaluate each year.If any improvements are made to a property, they will be depreciated as a separate asset. 

And then yes, more tax benefits with more properties. 

There is a lot of turnover in contractors that work for HD, because HD really squeezes all the profit out and leaves the contractors with little $ for their effort, so they cut a lot of corners wherever they can in an attempt to actually make some $, and then they quit after a few poorly done projects that nobody except HD benefits from. 

B) you need to decrease the basis of the property by the insurance proceeds, and loss you claimed. ( combined this equals replacement cost) .Second step is related to the basis-adjustment  of the property: A) As for repairs, for the repairs that have been done so far, you can add that to the basis of the property and start depreciating it. 

Each month, in fact, about 30% of the folks who contact us have in mind something that is not well suited to such a plan, and we are very up front in letting them know that - and either walk away or help them adjust their goals to something that will work.There are, however, many ways that an investor can use a self-directed plan to invest in what they know and build their tax-sheltered savings in a more safe and consistent manner than would be possible with a portfolio entirely based on the public exchanges. 

In other words, over 8 years will go by before you break even on your investment.This is ignoring any rise in property value, which you wouldn't benefit from unless you sold it, anyway.Even after 30 years, it is still less than a 9% ROI.

He wants full control for the benefit of him financing the property. 

It's an awesome system if you get smart on manipulating your benefits to get the best redemptions.