When you sell a rental home, you must recapture depreciation, so you may not have a loss at all.
Even if you have a capital loss, only $3,000 of ordinary income can be offset against it each year.
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/taxes-when-landlords-sell-rental-real-estate.html
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p544.pdf
