.($6500 deprecations on ¾ of a 225,000) +($2200 in property taxes. utilities and repairs) +($1000 in depreciation of furniture/TV/Appliances) +($2000 in mortgage interest) ($2500 state and local taxes.)That only equals $14,200, it’s hard to justify taking that over the standard deduction of $12,000 especially because I’ll have to pay back my deprecation eventually (I plan to do 1031 probably, but still ill have to pay it in the future).4.

I told them the other people offered a 2-year lease and they countered w $2900.All other things equal, what is better?

That would be equal to a 10' X 12' room.

However, a person good at talking isn't equal to good at doing.

You can do a straight 50/50 split where money and work are equally split down the middle.2.

https://www.har.com/content/newsroom/Houston Real Estate Highlights in June Single-family home sales rose 1.8 percent year-over-year, with 8,518 units sold, the largest one-month sales volume of all time;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes declined from 50 to 48 days;Total property sales reached record levels, rising 1.7 percent, with 10,115 units sold – the first time that number has broken the 10-thousand mark;Total dollar volume increased 6.6 percent to slightly more than $3 billion;The single-family home median price rose 2.6 percent to $245,000, reaching an all-time high;The single-family home average price increased 4.3 percent to a record high of $316,463;Single-family homes months of inventory was at a 4.1-months supply, the highest level since last August and equal to the national inventory level;Townhome/condominium sales rose 4.9 percent, with the average price down 1.7 percent to $211,050 and the median price down 4.1 percent to $163,000;Leases of single-family homes climbed 4.7 percent with the average rent up 3.9 percent to $1,877;Volume of townhome/condominium leases fell 4.2 percent with the average rent up 6.7 percent to $1,662.

However, not all real estate is created equal, and not all real estate is a good investment at all times.  

Really yall can work out whatever you want as his interest, it doesn't have to be equal to his dollars put into the deal.

Your debt to income will be calculated using the avg of the two most recent years profits so long as the second year shows you made equal or greater profits vs the first year.. should be able to find that amount on line 51 of your return.    

Obviously, I'm not an attorney and I haven't verified this with one, but I've heard in my state you can charge a storage fee (equal to a month's rent) for holding their property, charge them whatever amount your lease says for releasing fee, and then add on whatever damages the deposit won't cover.