Hello & Rental Loss Question

[Mark Payne]

Hi All,

Got turned on to this great site by a coworker who has found it very useful. I've been interested in real estate investing for quite some time, mostly buy & hold for cash flow and equity. When I was offered a short term (few years) assignment in Hong Kong I became an investor by default as we decided to rent out our family home in a Memphis, TN suburb. The home is cash flowing about $275/month after PITI, management fees and a home warranty that we left in place. This brings me to my question. Using just depreciation we have a rental loss. We are also renovating the pool shortly which will increase the loss. I make too much money to take a rental loss deduction according to the IRS. My wife is a stay at home mom (for now). If she heads this business up, logs hours, emails, phone calls etc....Would she be able to meet the criteria the IRS sets forth to qualify as a real estate professional? The goal of course being able to offset some of my earned income on our way to our goal of income replacement. A thorough discussion with an accountant experienced in this type of investing is warranted and will take place, I'm just looking for some opinions or possibly experiences of folks in a similar situation. Thanks for taking the time folks!

Mark