Once you convert your home to rental use, you'll write off the mortgage interest and real estate taxes on a Schedule E, along with any depreciation that you can write off. You will no longer claim the mortgage interest or real estate taxes as an Itemized Deduction on the Schedule A.

Here is a link to the Schedule E: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040se.pdf

To complicate matters further, when you have rental losses, you can only deduct those losses if your total income on your tax return is less than $150k. If your income exceeds that threshold, you'll carry over those losses, and use them to offset future profits, will claim them in years your income dips below $150k, and then will take any remaining losses when you sell the home down the road.

Hope this helps.

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