New Investor - Looking for Tax Mitigation Strategies & Advice on College Town Rentals

[Tim Albright]

Greetings,

My wife and I are just getting into real estate investing. I am retired and working on career #2 and 2 of 3 of our kids have left for college - our oldest is headed to UConn for her PhD (6 years) and instead of paying to rent, our thoughts are to do a version of a house hack with buying a house/condo and renting out one to two rooms to offset the costs of her rent. We are largely looking to gain some tax advantages through investment properties to help offset the W-2 income. While we would like to cashflow at some point, we recognize that is likely downstream. Again, finding ways to lower our tax burden is one of our top goals.

 We are considering, if successful, purchasing an additional property/rental for grad students (hopefully less wear and tear) and what seems like a consistent rental market.

Hoping to find tax professionals/CPA's to help us make intelligent decisions related to our top goal of tax mitigation. Also looking to hear from anybody who has thoughts on the rental market in close proximity to major universities - I recognize the challenge of college students and the sometimes problematic care and need for repairs (that is why I am hoping to target the graduate/PhD/Med student population who might be less-centered on partying and more centered on academics and being responsible...pipe dream? :)

Thank you in advance.

Tim and Kristina