Hi TaxGuru,

I looked on some similar threads, but couldn't find all my answers so thought I would share my specific details and questions here. Sorry if you have answered these before.

We bought a small city condo in 2007 and lived there as our primary residence for five years. At the end of June 2013 we bought a new house in a different state and currently reside there full-time. Beginning in July 2013, right after we moved out, we rented out the small city condo for $1700 per month, giving us $10,200 in rental income for the year. I am filing as a cash basis taxpayer. Here are my questions:

#1. I replaced the hot water heater in January 2013 in anticipation of renting later that year. Even though the repair took place when I was living there, can I still deduct is as a repair expense on my Schedule E? I also have several other repair expenses, but they were incurred while the tenants were living there.
#2. I incurred mortgage interest expense and property taxes both as my primary residence (for 6 months) and as a landlord (also 6 months). Do I deduct ALL my 2013 mortgage interest and taxes as expenses on Schedule E? OR do I pro-rate these costs and deduct some on Schedule E (as landlord) and some on my Schedule A (as primary resident)?
#2a. If I deduct ALL mortgage interest and taxes on my Schedule E, I come out with a loss since I only received 6 months worth of rental income. If I do generate a loss, can I carry forward this loss to next year?
#3. I'm a little lost on how to value my property when it comes to depreciation. I initially purchased the condo for $300k back in 2007. I was planning to use that for basis. A identical unit to mine sold recently for $375k (sweet!) - should I use a more current fair market value for depreciation? Can I even deduct depreciation this year?
#4. I pay a single condo fee to our condo management company each month. I'm aware that it goes to pay many things such as insurance, utilities, cleaning & maintenance, management fees, plowing, etc. Can I just lump this all under "management fees" on my Schedule E or do I really need to drill down and break this out? How would I treat items such as building reserve fund contribution?
Thanks!