I scheduled a trip to go see property over a weekend and walked away with one.

I have also kept a giveaway bin in the laundry room where I have been collecting clothes, toys, etc & will make regular trips to the goodwill. 

i used to go to Michigan for business trip when I was an Auditor based in Chicago, and always drove past the Kalamazoo!

3) Can I deduct real estate investing expenses/trips considering I do not have business bank accounts, have no legal entities setup, and I have a tech office job (I spend the majority of my week on my tech office job)?

I have really slowed down on trips to the area since there is never anything to see.

I live near Lake Tahoe and everyone I know plus myself kept going up for trips to the snow in the winter and lake in the summer.

Make a few trips out here and meet with some investors and realtors.

You still may be held liable anyway if you knowingly allow them to keep a dog with a bite history.If the tenant has a guest over doing keg stands and the bust their head open or the guest trips on a skate board, slips on a banana peel, or whatever - do you want the guest to sue you or the tenant?

So I figured sky commuters would be willing to fly 30 minutes from DC to get to their residence, and assumed a 15 minute trip to wherever they needed to take off from (this was all pre-9/11 of course). 

We're in the Portland area (with ties to central Maine and Mount Desert Island/Acadia region).