My state is very fair to landlords, but there's no way to win this scenario.

Fair warning, it might hurt.

As someone fascinated by the intersection of housing, technology, and fairness, I couldn’t ignore the Justice Department’s latest lawsuit against six of the largest landlords in the country.

Things in your tax filing need to be really off to do this.Being a REP/active participant and using cost seg to offset a spouses (or your own if that's all you do) W-2 wages is fairly common practice.

It is fair to express your disappointment that they exceeded the cost target you gave them. 

I’m still learning the ropes of property management, so I really appreciate the opportunity to exchange ideas.At our property, we have a structured screening policy influenced by the Federal Fair Housing Act since our location falls under its scope.

@Mike Donovan in Narragansett, RI we wound up with a RI FAIR plan due to the fact we rented to students.

Look at Homes.com or Realtor.com to get an idea what that type of property is selling for (look at the ones Pending or Under Contract)...or, look in the county's GIS system to see what similar properties sold for.Once you have an idea what a fair market value would be, let the landlord (if they're interested in selling) mention their price. 

@Jason Burkart To maximize tax benefits, consider buying the property as a rental and leasing it to your mother at fair market value (FMV).

I don’t mind having skin in the game either, but I know using private money is key to scaling one day and would like to get some experience with it now, even if it doesn’t fund a majority of the deal.