I called the turbotax hotline before i received this answer. in case anyone else has an owner occupied multi-family and they run into this, here is what they said and i did with success. i had to delete all my work and start again. *this time around i made sure to check the box saying that you want to allocate and do the math yourself, rather than check the recommended box that turbotax will do it.*
turbotax response: You called regarding allocation of rental expenses. There is a screen that asks whether you want Turbo Tax to allocate expenses or if you want to enter directly. To get back to this sceen, go to My Account - Tools - Delete form and then look for and delete the Schedule E Worksheet related to the rental. You will have to reenter all the data for the rental.
