Builder/Investors, what are you spending per sqft? 

I have better luck with posting in the zillow rental section;   rent before you buy, live in a great property while you get yourself ready to finance a great home....Our business model;   protect the buyer or tenant at even our own expense. 

You will spend more dollars on due diligence and might need to walk from a huge chunk of money but if you have the right team and have a high hit percentage it's worth it.

and guess what - that might be OK too - but only if 1) you're OK with spending that money and 2) the investment justifies it.

If you spend the entire $300k restoring the property, then here is the end result:- deductible casualty loss of $50k- no current tax- the restored property has $0 basis and cannot be depreciated- when it is later sold, the entire sale price is taxableMechanics and reporting are tricky, and I would not recommend to DIY it, especially since my scenario is over-simplified, and your real scenario is likely to involve more gotchas.Thanks so much. 

FL seems to have reigned in HOAs recently, so who knows what they are allowed to do.I know that in CA, an HOA can ban smoking in units because smoking is not a protected class and the HOA has an interest in the safety & health of the building. 

No, you cannot create phantom losses this way.Some additional issues that we have not addressed:- holding rentals inside an S-corp has many tax disadvantages- you will likely jeopardize your $250k/$500k capital gain exclusion for homesteads- you will lose asset protection afforded to personal residences by most states- you will lose your homestead exemption for local property tax - your insurance will have to change from owner-occupied to rental, i.e. go up- and there's moreConclusion: there're reasons why nobody is doing this clever "strategy" but A+ for trying.

They are not always happy about spending money, but thank me when I get a higher selling price than what they expected.

I have heard that it's a good idea to form an LLC as an added layer of liability protection.

This is day to day spending, rent collection, tax/utility payments etc. (1) account for all security deposits, (1) account for parachute fund, capex items etc.