The BP Forum members (like me) can time you examples but they are in different situations.Hi Sam - I am not sure I understand what your CPA is doing.It appears from your post that you have rentals owned by you personally or by an LLC that you own.Having an LLC own a property does not change the characteristic of the income.Therefore, if the activity is passive in the LLC, it will flow to your individual tax return as a passive loss.Therefore, you would run into the same issue at the individual level of having a bunch of passive losses that unless you make less than $150,000 or are eligible to claim real estate professional status, your losses would continue to be passive and therefore suspended.

. - Understanding the existence of tenant pools and their characteristics is not common knowledge.

I am looking to start an investment property portfolio starting with 2 or 3 houses to rent out in the Houston/The Woodlands area, can anyone please recommend what areas would be the best opportunities to finding good tenants fast and at what price ranges and characteristics these properties are best suited for tenants.

STR and LTR characteristics and cash flows are so different that it's very easy to see which type you are offering.

Those properties have unique characteristics that your local lender/banker will understand and have greater flexibility with - especially as you build a track record.

One thing we see commonly with self-managing landlords who then hire us is they have tenant selection practices that are not legal as they deny applicants based on protected characteristics. 

Each deal has its own characteristics :)

10 months ago I was driving up and down every road in this new town of Iron Mountain MI trying to get a feel for the quality of the neighborhoods and characteristics of the market.

Here’s a BIG difference between residential and commercial real property.  80% of residential SFR property that would be purchased for rental/investment is located in “cookie cutter” subdivisions, where homes in the development share common characteristics.  

For a larger building, the costs will depend on the size and other characteristics of the building