You are correct, but you won't have any adjustments to make. Since you are filing (correctly) a NY nonresident return, the rental ends up as a zero because you have other income. NY does this because they're not going to let you claim a net operating loss (NOL) on your New York income when, in the hypothetical that all of your income were taxable to NY, you would not have an NOL.
And, yes, typically you do want to prepare the nonresident return before you prepare your resident return. This is because your resident state (CA) will give you a credit for the taxes you must pay to your nonresident state (NY) for the income you earned there. However, since you have no income, and therefore, no tax to NY, California will not have any NY tax to factor in for the Credit for taxes paid to another state.
But you do well to file the New York return even though it is a zero income return. NY can be very aggressive in enforcing their tax laws, and by reporting your rental loss, you should have fewer questions asked by NY.
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