The poster was asking about broken/damaged household items and guests destroying a rental. 

The biggest problem I see is that most of those items should have been itemized from the tenant deposit.

Gifting equity in a house may be more trouble than it is worth if you are not near the life-time exclusion1) Potentially having to get the property appraised everytime an equity is gifted2) Having a title company update the title every time3) Exemption of the gift tax return is normally for cash gifts below the annual gift tax exclusion, you may still need to file if you gift non-cash4) If there is partial ownership over several years, having to properly pro-rate certain items such as real estate taxes, mortgage interest and rental income if the property is a rentalBest of luck 

Mine may be different though because I am still responsible for HVAC and many other large items on the property.

This will give you one critical piece of information, that it may take X days to get an offer and sell, and the second item will give you what your competition is right now.

@Greg ReeseMost small investors will benefit by having the LLC created in the state where the property is located at.Creating an LLC in a state like Nevada, Delaware, Wyoming may be better for the big players if items such as charging orders, business friendly case law, anonymity are important to you.However, be mindful that setting up LLC's in those states will add to your costs as you may have increased annual fees for annual LLC fees + registered agent fees.

After 20 years in real estate and working with a lot of military investors, I can say house hacking is a great fit for you.

If the house has all major components in working order a few cosmetic items doesn't make it not livable.

Killeen is a military area, so that monthly rent would almost be guaranteed.

The property taxes will be on his Schedule A during the time the property was his primary residence, assuming he itemizes.