With that said, beyond people stumbling upon your VRBO/Airbnb listing, driving traffic to your page is tough and something I will be working to improve. 

If your losses are not material and eventual tax saving wouldn’t be affected much even if states disallowed your losses, then don’t file.

Hey BiggerPockets Fam, I picked a tough time to get into real estate. 

We are 2 hrs away, so overseeing a remodel is tough.

Would like to see from experienced rehabbers whether you buy materials yourself versus having the contractor supply them...If your buying,  is it worth the extra effort to control the cost and get exactly what you are envisioning.. 

If that question is tough to answer, spending more time learning about the industry as a beginner probably makes the most sense.

First, contractors are hard to find and the cost of materials has jumped dramatically, making it awfully expensive to renovate a home.

That being said, you might want to consider living in it for 2 years to qualify for hte sec121 exclusion, as limited as that timeframe might be.That all being said, its really tough to give you answer. 

I am gathering the final list of materials for a renovation for a rental property in East Point, Ga.

students deserve nice places to live. we aren't trying to be slumlords but i do realize that students probably have slightly lower expectations than other types of tenants, so i feel we wont need to break the bank in the level of finishing details like we did on our own home but we will provide housing that is clean and safe and attractive. also thinking we can use some creative materials and methods to make the units party-proof. maybe we get lucky and find some long term professors or grad students and don't have to do annual turnover on every unit. even so, i budgeted 8% for property management after watching david greene's webinar yesterday.the heloc would allow for an easy down payment and a nice buffer for rehab, and i have 750+ credit score and good wage earning history, so i think a conventional loan should not be a problem to obtain. a cash out refi might be an option on the horizon if we decide to really crank a proper rehab but the units (from the pictures i saw) are livable as-is.should i be more specific here on the address/market to get better help?