I may have a different view point, because I have been an investor much longer than an agent, but here are some tips:- an agent's knowledge is proportional to the number of deals they do: national average is 7, which means many do 2 or 3. 

If you really feel like it you can donate the cost of a coffee to a good charity.

They'll tell you the handyman is a drunk, the girl next door is donating plasma to make her rent, there are mice, the current landlord is IMPOSSIBLE to reach on the phone, The bathtub faucet has dripped for 5 years, The teenagers down the street are gang members...

one idea is to setup a housing nonprofit,donate the asset, get a tax deduction,pay no property taxes, income taxes, etc.work for the nonprofit and draw a salarywhile possibly getting free money...then you can easily develop another meterand run the asset as affordable housing :)

We've got a little different model and can accept donated & bargain-sale properties, so I'm trying to differentiate myself from others sending out mailI'd love some perspectives on the letter and any tips to get a better response for our program, thank you againGreetings,My name is Jake Weiler, I work with Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity and we are interested in your property.

most all nonprofits in this space are setup as state filed C Corporations that take the federal IRS Tax Exempt status later and make 1,000 copies of the determination letter to show to donors, states, cities, etc. to payNO property taxes, NO income taxes (IRS/states), NO sales taxes (states), etc. keeping costs downwhile providing deductions through donations that come from foundations, tax payers, corporations, etc. and there's a lot of collaboration with your tax payer dollars from govt.the biggest builder is probably Habitat for Humanity (Christian volunteer model), Proud Ground uses the Land Trust model and we like First Story's model based on working with for profit companies that donate materials and labor.The pieces of the affordable housing model that we DON'T WANT to use are "equity caps" and dependency on subsidies.Generally, the model has been to feed people fish.We want to teach them how to fish.So connecting renters to affordable home ownership opportunities/resources WITHOUT equity caps through small homes and free financial education can help some of the 100M Americans paying rent to many BiggerPockets millionairesso that renters can start their American Dream.We want our customers to be able to sell their small starter homes for a profit TAX-FREE under the primary home $250K/500K exclusion to be able to move up towards their American Dream.

Charles, thanks for the tip but I've always done my own taxes and the Q was actually for general advice because I'm starting up an affordable housing nonprofit and expect to get Qs about donations.

It is VERY UNcommon for a buyers agent to refund part of their commission..  99% of buyers wouldn't even know they could do that, and 3/4 of the 1% that did know they could do that, wouldn't have the cajones to ask someone to donate part of their earnings to someone they just spent a month (or way longer) working for..    

If you are married, the standard deduction is now 24k, so unless those items surpass 24k, any donation will not be additionally tax deductible. 

I have a Property that my parents donated to my wife and I, and the property is paid for but the house needs a whole new renovation.