Mortgage interest and real estate taxes as it relates to the personal residence may be benefit you as an itemized deduction.You must allocate the items based on some reasonable methodology whether it be based on square footage or amount of rooms.

@Michael PlaksIf a new rental property is purchased Day 1, Repairs and Improvements are performed Day 2, and Rental is listed for rent Day 3.Can de minimis safe harbor, bonus depreciation, or Section 179 be used to currently deduct all Day 2 expenses (assuming invoice line items are below $2,500 for the de minimis test) versus capitalizing?

KPI = Key Performance Indicators.They are the items you measure and/or monitor to evaluate your experiment.An example.You invent a new engine in hopes you put Ferrari to shame.Your KPI could be the time it takes to go from 0 to 60.

These are all items that need to be replaced anyway. 

Just adding in a few little accessories like an accent chair, lamp, shower curtain, entry hall rug, towels in the bathroom, decorative item on the kitchen counter, etc can make a rental house really stand out since most people don't do this.

So the question is whether having real-time access to these items will reduce the operating costs for your property for both you and the tenant. 

We'd like to get the big items knocked out before we move in and then once everything is done, do a conventional refi. 

Low income tenants change their phone number often to avoid bill collectors, old boy or girl friends, etc.  

Then I would ask about the roof and HVACs because those are all big-ticket items.

We don't use HW on our properties, we keep a Cap Exp account that is fed monthly for the big ticked items.