Overall, I like to take an approach driven by Ockham's Razor - the simplest approach is quite often the most effective.

Eviction is not the simplest thing right now and that means strategies need to change.  

People have a hard time googling the simplest things that they’ll leave a YouTube comment and if they never see a response will never figure out what they’re looking for. 

This is the simplest method, but it also means your tenants are more likely to abuse the utilities by leaving windows open with the heat or A/C running, leaving lights on, ignoring the toilet that constantly flushes on its own, etc.3.

Usually the simplest way to get started in real estate is to move. 

The simplest way to analyze this deal is to calculate your cash-on-cash return.This means you need to take what the annual GROSS rent number, subtract out all expenses to come up with your NET rent number, and then divide that by your $200k invested. 

I just want to get us into a situation where I am filing correctly and keeping our tax & legal paperwork as simple as possible.Does anyone have recommendations of the simplest and/or best practice path to take at this point?

The simplest way is to purchase the property together.

In its simplest form this is all that real estate investing is.

This is the simplest method, but it also means your tenants are more likely to abuse the utilities by leaving windows open with the heat or A/C running, leaving lights on, ignoring the toilet that constantly flushes on its own, etc.3.