If you ever want to meet up let me know.There are some good local meet ups you should attend.To answer your question, yes you can write off passive losses up to 25k if your a W2 employee and depending on income.

For income property, you can get good comparables based on the rents paid and costs of the property - if the seller is using an agent that agent should be able to provide those.A lot of these costs may depend on your location. 

@John W.I would expect 5.375-5.75 percent depending on credit.

There are still areas where you can find deals but it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish (house hack, seller financing, etc). 

@Ryan Moore I would state that it depends on the loan type that you are using to purchase the property (if you are using a loan). 

Unless this note is being held by a non-owner occupied investor, then you may also be faced with ursury exemption limit on the interest rate depending on the state its held.  

Sounds like the owner now has a renter, depending on if the lease and the option to buy were written separately.

Some methods of finding deals fit better depending on how many you want to find.

Lauren, I'm hoping to work with person/persons (depending on preferred speciality) looking for Scouting rep for the Chicagoland area.

@Sundeep Yerramreddy  I'd plan on $300/sf if not more depending on materials, design, etc.