Any business could do this with their services and the savings would certainly justify the additional effort.But if you take advantage of the new law, wouldn't the renter do the same?

Doing it in December will not save you any taxes anyway.

Yes, we might end up doing it faster but I want to underwrite it with a longer timeline since this is our first one just to be safe and we would likely try to do some of the work ourselves to save on some demo and reno costs. 

Here are just some of my notes: 1) Using RentRedi to post my properties did not give me an option to save the lead photo, and this is HUGE because it is the first photo/thumbnail that shows on the listings in Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.

The biggest question you need to ask yourself is if you are doing this to afford a property you otherwise couldn’t afford or to save money period, that will lead to very different conclusions about where/if to buy. 

Have you passed the tax assessment yet, or is this your first year of owning it?

Not only were tax shelters stripped of their tax deferral capabilities, but they were stripped of it RETROACTIVE, allowing the IRS to recalculate tax shelter investors income going back 7 years.  

It is a tough market and there's nothing wrong with taking a breather and waiting for things to stabilize while focusing on savings and education.

Hi Michelle,Keeping tenants' security deposits in a separate savings account at an online bank is a common practice and is generally recommended.

If I managed the properties myself, I would save about $900/month.