Problem is only "RE pros" get to do it.There are 3 income classifications in the US - Active, Portfolio, and PassiveActive income is income derived from your job, or normal trade or business.Portfolio income is derived from bank instruments - stocks, bonds, etc.Passive income is income earned from investments.Active losses can wipe out both passive and portfolio income, but it doesn't work the other way around.Portfolio (capital) losses are limited to $3,000 annually.Passive losses can only be offset by passive gains.Real estate rental income by its nature is deemed passive per IRC Sec 469One way to get around it is to become a pro - spend more than 750 hours or 1/2 your time in real estate.But most folks aren't real estate pros.

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Megan Luckily the math part isnt too high level just addition, subtraction, some mulitplication and division but we as a community can all help you through it.Leave the complicated math for the wall street quantative analysts and derivative traders.

I don't agree with your lender that you have to live in the property if you are using a conventional loan, but depends on what product they are giving you, maybe a work around for that.I would not purchase based solely on what income you can derive from STR.

These self employed 2nd mtg's are typically based on alternative method of caluclation like profit and loss statements if you're self employed or the last 12 months of bank statement deposits using a formula to derive an income from these deposits (like 50% of all annual rolling 12 calendar month deposits X 50% /12 months = monthly income).

It's possible with derivatives and hedges to reduce losses and volatility. 

Ultimately, what drives real estate values is supply and demand and the income you can derive from those properties.

This is derived from the amount of equity we can contribute as the sponsor and the amount of equity we know we can comfortably raise in a 90/10 structure.

Appraisers are not going to add value for something that is financed or leased, and if you're the only house in the radius of comps with paid off solar they won't have any comparisons to derive value from it.In the end it is really only advisable to pursue if you're going to own the home forever....while it is nearly impossible to determine if you'll own forever or not regardless of present circumstances.  

I first want to emphasize to real estate investors, the difference between the tax treatment of rental income derived from an active trade or business compared to investments.