Bought my first house / primary residence. Advice for managing househack expenses?

[Anthony Shui]

Hey folks! New here, just bought a 4 bed 2 bath as my primary residence that I'm currently remodeling into a 5 bed 3 bath before having some tenants moving in with me.

Current thoughts:

1. Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals are upon us and I was thinking of grabbing some appliances to finish the house

2. I was considering putting the above appliance spend towards a business credit card signup bonus offer (Thinking of applying for the Chase Ink Unlimited Business Credit Card). Probably a little too late at this point to get the credit card in time, but alas.

3. I was considering opening a separate (business) checking account to keep rental revenue and house hacking expenses in one place. Vaguely aware of tax benefits / depreciation. I have a CPA I plan on reaching out to for more on this, but open to any advice. Note: The title is held in my personal name, not in any separate business structure.

3a. In order to open a business checking account, I was told I need to set up either a sole proprietorship, or an LLC. Not really sure what to do here...Some info, I don't really think I'll be amassing a giant real estate portfolio - just a side hustle. I don't see myself buying another property in the next couple years at the very least. I could see myself owning 2-3 properties max (1 primary, a couple investments).

I'm open to any and all advice! Very new to this. I'm super excited to move in post-remodel and start building equity.

[Rick Pozos]

If you apply for a business credit card, you will have to have a business EIN which means you need a business set up. 

If you are going to start a business, then start a business. If you are going to have a friend help out with the payments, I might not start a business. AND if you are NOT going to start a business, there is no need to have a business checking account. You can have another regular personal checking account. You can keep track on an Excel spreadsheet of income and expenses for your non-business house hacking. That is probably how I would do it.