What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Any passive losses you have no use for in that calendar year will carry over, so they can also be used in subsequent years.Keep in mind, some property types will garner more bonus depreciation than others.

Steel bath tub, cheap or more expensive kitchen cabinets, LVL or some other type of flooring, and anything I can do that will help me out in the future?  

Also, the contacts you make in college can serve you really well in the future. 

@Ron S.These are the types of questions I will always refuse to answer.

Inexperienced RE investors are best served by having a realtor, having contingencies in the contract, having home inspector and getting a 3rd party appraisal that is required by the lender. 

Pretend they are title issues (another common type of issue that holds up closings).

I personally think tile is easier to repair.I think the choice really depends on your type of property, class of property and budget.

To fix these types of things in some geographic areas may require fixing a lot of other less important things -- know the local building inspector's expectations.

Note that the minimum loan amounts for these types of loans are typically $75k-$100k which can be in issue in some areas of OH, maybe not the areas you mentioned though.