Everything with the rental property seems correct. So the only thing you did wrong was not do any tax-planning (preferably with a tax professional) ahead of time.
As for AMT, if you are "being clobbered" with AMT, it seems like you have a lot of other income, which would likely be taxed at 22% without AMT (and AMT would effectively tax you at 26%, unless your income was VERY high). Without seeing the details, it is impossible to tell you if it is correct or not. If you suspect something is wrong, you probably want to go to a tax professional to review it.
