A normal market is when property values go up proportional to inflation.

So getting back to the OP's question, to best lower taxes on a potentially one-time windfall, the goal would be to acquire a business with a larger proportion of tax-advantaged assets like equipment over real property.  

We just have to keep accurate accounting of the proportions of all the payments, is that right?

The part of the cash/equity that is contributed by each person involved (bank, homeowner), is directly proportional to the size of their risk.Rental properties follow the same Risk Formula. 

How likely to help you avoid serious mistakes and the proportionally serious financial losses they tend to bring?

@Skip FriszMost of the mini splits (you can get them with a wall mounted head or with a compact air-handler).  

Then check the sale price in proportion to the assessed value...

The effect of owning real estate as joint tenants with the right of surviorship (rather than as tenants in common) is that, upon the death of one joint tenant, his or her interest in real estate passes, by operation of law, to the surviving joint tenant or tenants.Option 2:  Tenant in Common: Share a specified proportion of ownership rights in real property and upon the death of a tenant in common, that share is transferred to the estate of the deceased tenant.Option 3:  Tenants by the Entirety with teh Right of Survivorship: If a married couple wishes to own property jointly, they may take title as "tenants by the entirety with the right of survivorship."  

I didn't like their design because there was limited cloud storage so you may only get a couple days to review the clips before they rolled off (and it didn't seem to be proportional to the # of cameras you buy either, which isn't fair or adequate).

In your situation the initial depreciable cost basis would be the proportional value of the home and improvements based on how much is used as a rental.