Trying to purchase 3rd home and Schedule E question

[Craig Bellon]

I'd like to purchase a third home as my primary residence.  I have two other properties, (A) and (B), already rented out.  Property (A) rented out in 2014 and property (B) was rented out in August of 2016.  On my 2014 tax return, property (A) shows a $4K loss mainly due to a sump pump I installed (i.e., one time purchase). In 2015, I invested a lot of money into property (B) and my CPA said to claim the repairs/supplies on Schedule E, so I did.  All to say my loss in 2015 for property B is somewhere around $160K.

Today, both properties are making even and I have no loss. 

All other parts of my background pan out for another home purchase - solid income, job, credit etc.

My main concern is my one time loss in 2015.  I've been told that if I can show an invoice or receipts for the supplies/repairs, then an underwriter will not count the loss against me (for whatever sum I show). Is this a viable solution? I suppose I could show the sump pump receipt from 2014 for the same purpose. Is this the best way forward, or are there better ideas? Or, is there no way to overcome the loss?  I appreciate the assistance!

[Paul Ewing]

Most banks are more interested in your income at that level than how your other properties are performing. That said those are some massive one time losses. Are you sure they should have been capitalized? The de minimus limit was upped to $2500 but you are implying repairs to systems way above that.