Unfortunately new tax laws will limit deductions in this scenario.

I'm currently doing a fair bit of studying (reading, listening and watching) in this field as well as actively looking for properties in the Arizona and North Carolina markets.

It seems limiting to have the same property serve both purposes.

There are some basic questions missing. 1) Is the land within the City limits?

You've traded 'asset protection' for limited financing options.If you don't care about getting spam e-mail the rest of your life, try lending tree or quicken/rocket mortgage maybe just to see.

Hello BP Community,I am just starting out in the real estate world and I have been studying day / night  for the past 8-10 months reading the BP books, podcasts etc.

I have no clue as to how good it is or is not or how much it may cost.although I have been around a lot of different HOW TO guys over the years.. and like anything.. if he sells 100 people on the big dog program 10 or so will take it and run.. 10 or so will muddle the rest will just kind of fade away.you have to look within and see if you are in a position to succeed in real estate... its not as easy as just taking a course and your now going to succeed... real estate generally speaking takes time,, money and some how gain experience. so for sure those that have limited investing capital limited experience.. no real contacts in the industry.. will find it pretty tough to almost no way anything will happen other than get jacked up at the event.Assess were your at personally.. 

Things I thought I had to depreciate was expensed.In your case, your deductions are also limited by your income, which may explain the difference of net deductible loss less than your net loss.

Ideally, I would want to use the money to invest in real estate, but My investment options are more limited than if I had a self-directed IRA.I do not want to invest in stocks.  

It will take a little studying but I would advise picking a secondary market not a small town.