You can deduct expenses like mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, repairs, and maintenance costs from your rental income.The biggest advantage is depreciation—this allows you to deduct a portion of the property’s value (excluding land) over time, significantly reducing taxable rental income.

Regular preventative maintenance, typically during turnovers between tenants I take note, anything that will likely be a need to repair in the next 12mo I try to fix during my turnovers before a new tenant, but I also take note of anything that may be needed in the next 24mo and the next 5years and I estimate the cost and budget it into my reserves Best of luck with your self management journey!

Same with them doing repairs-are they qualified to do them.

If so, a rehab loan might be a good option, especially if the property has a higher ARV (After Repair Value) in the future.

Government will inspect your property annually and most always find some items they will require you to repair.4.

For example, on what I thought was a relatively simple project in a bathroom reno which was fully gutted down to the studs already, I had more than one quote for over $7k to run pex supply lines and rough in a shower drain and toilet drain off of an existing main stack, all of which ended up costing me about $200 in pex lines, PVC fittings, and sawzall blades.If you need any hardwood flooring repaired, patched, or refinished, you can't beat Dave's Hardwood Flooring out of Blaine - $3k spent with them fully brought one of my duplex unit's original 100+ year old maple floors back to life.If you're putting in any stone counters in your kitchens or for bathroom vanities, Twin City Discount Granite have been awesome to work with, and consistently have the best pricing I've found in the area on fully installed granite and quartz.I also have a great drywall guy, as well as a really good carpet install guy - feel free to DM me if you want either of their contact info!

What's your experience with repair costs? 

Although not required, spending a few hundred dollars can help you discover hidden repair issues.Contingency fundA mortgage lender typically requires you to have significant cash reserves before buying a residential rental property.

.- Make sure the property appraises for the calculated ARV (After Repair Value) to get the best loan terms.- Consider the loan terms, interest rates, and any prepayment penalties.

Buying from a wholesaler with only two properties under your belt could be a real problem as their ARV is always too high and repair costs too low, depending on how much you know to date.