🧐You need to communicate very effectively and more precisely, almost with surgical precision, what the seller will get out of this deal such as:- Some money upfront- Money every month for the next 3 -  5 years (however small, it is coming in)- They get a big check in 3 - 5 years or even as early as 6 months or 1 year - You promise to carry on their legacy by restoring the house its original glory!

I am in remodeling so restoration wouldn’t be an issue.

Is there a certain amount of time we could live in it each year and rent out the rest? Or

I restored the retail space that was vacant for nearly a decade.

If OP elects de minimis safe harbor ("DMSH"), he's going to have to capitalize as the expenditure is going to be more than $2,500.If OP forgoes the DMSH and instead applies the Betterment, Adaptation, and Restoration tests ("BAR tests") under the tangible property regs, we'd almost certainly have a betterment and/or restoration of the HVAC subsystem on our hands, so we'd also capitalize under this option.OP may be able to use the safe harbor for small taxpayers ("SHST") to expense the costs, however not enough information was given by OP.If SHST is off the table due to limitation, then must capitalize. 

I thought this trick was just too cool to keep it a secret.  We're in the middle of a Fix N Flip in Portland OR and wanted to save the old door hinges even though they were covered in half a dozen layers of paint.  We...

We were looking to flip an older home to restore usefulness but found out we could AirBNB for significant profit once it was fixed up.

I use to be a home restoration technician, so I know how beneficial it can be to cut those costs.

I then have to massage the data to import into a CRM.

Under the sink - get sheet vinyl from HD, Lowe's or a small chunk from your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.