Both units were newly gut renovated, updated amenities, same appliances, same paint scheme, same courtyard.

Currently I work in the renovation Industry and have for 7+ years but I am eager to transition into REI!

The HML will pay for the purchase and the renovation if the purchase price is less than 65%, which it is, but they will only fund the project as a business loan for an LLC.

Secondly I thought using more extra rent to dump money into renovations of the condo so when passed on it has better equity.

I will be hopefully closing on a duplex soon, doing some renovations, and I'd like to get some good quality photos for the rental ad.

If you buy a new, or newly renovated property,  you may not see any capital expenses for the first several years.

However, loosing a tenant gives you the opportunity to go in and do the renovations that you need to make to justify the higher rents.  

If you planning to renovate a property after the sale, you can borrow upto 70% of ARV so basically roll in your renovation costs into the loan therefore increasing the loan.

Newly renovated in 2018.

Passive losses can only offset passive income (Unless your AGI is under 150k, phase out begins at 100k- or unless one of you qualify as a RE Professional- which if you both have full time jobs isn't very likely)So your potential passive losses from the Rental will carry forward until there is a time with passive income, and then it will reduce that.Also, much of those renovations to get that rental ready to rent will need to be capitalized.