Husband and wife to have two house in two states

[Yan Gao]

Hi BiggerPocketors,

I am new to real estate investing and rental property, and hope to have suggestion to my situation here.

My wife and I currently live with our daughter in Seattle area, and own a house with mortgage. We are looking for the 2nd house as future rental property, when my wife find a good job opportunity in Phoenix, AZ. Since Phoenix is one of our favorite retirement cities, we now plan to let her move to Phoenix and we buy a house there. It seems I will not move to Phoenix in couple years, which means my wife and I could be living apart for couple years. Besides our challenge to take care our daughter, we have a few questions on how to handle the investment and potential rentals, and appreciate your suggestions and comments.

We believe it is financially better to buy a house in Phoenix then rent apartment, for my wife's new job there. If we buy this 2nd house in Phoenix in 2021, the first question is regarding the tax, can we still file jointly? and can we count both mortgages' interests toward the deduction?

We discussed to rent out a room from Seattle's house, and also rent out a room from future Phoenix's house, to lower the monthly mortgage. Is this a good approach? What are the risks and what should we pay attention to in terms of tax and financials consideration?

Thanks in advance!

YG