I braced myself for the 50% rule - I was gonna have expenses every month on the houses.

A good rule of thumb is to keep it between a 5-10% untilization.

Qualifying for RE pro has its own complicated rules. 

I'm sure you have looked at the rules of thumb like 10% for maintenance and 10% for vacancy + CAPX hold backs. 

When calculating the 1% rule, am I using:1.

Second, hard money lenders don't lend 100% even to experienced borrowers as a rule, and certainly not to beginners.  

And IRS rules say that as such personal you can’t be part of ANY transaction your IRA is involved with, DIRECTLY or INDIRECTLY.

I have a home daycare, which has really unique rules and makes personal/business deductions a little trickier, but thank you so much for clarifying how this impacts rental properties.

We are currently breaking even on the property before depreciation expense (we are holding on to the property b/c it's in an area where the appreciation is high), can the "unused" depreciation expense be carryover as PAL to be applied against capital gain when we sell the unit later on?

In general, I have seen some advice to go with 50% as your NOI after you take your gross - your Vacancy and to use 10% vacancy as a rule of thumb.