After reading about the "dreaded" IRS classification of "Real Estate Dealer" and the long list of negatives of being tagged as a dealer.

My view is that an A property is excellent for wealth management, and large institutions such as REITS focus on this asset class. If

I'd say it depends on the asset class. If

Can I avoid that annual fee by choosing not to take on that classification.  

If you are adamant on eliminating the 5 unit zoning classification, you will need to speak to the zoning department and then the tax assessor's office.  

Complete the Form 8832 with the IRS for entity classification. 

If a town has a 100k median price, and my rentals are in an area where the median is $50k, then it's a C class. If

Reason being most landlords in the area have either Leased theirs already or have them on the market and you will want to be able to compete with those for college students before they start class. If

I haven't found one yet and i've been searching for a while. neighborhoodscout.com gives you both the average rental/month for a city but it's not the kind of tool where you can scan through a list and pick-out, say, those are doing between 1% and 1.5% versus the area classification (A, B, C, D etc.).

What is the criteria for this classification , is it just the crime profile of an area or are there other factors that determine what category will a house fall under ?