START by leasing a property and testing your hosting biz. 

Look up the Howey Test for a definition of investment contracts.Sounds like a really good deal.

@Nathan Gesner Conducting a quick test.

If you meet this first test, you are a REP...now determine if you can use the benefits of it.2) if you or your spouse meet test 1, THEN you can make an election to combine all your RENTAL activities together for purposes of determining if materially participate in your rental activities.  3) So you met test 1, made the election under #2 - now you see if you materially participate in your rental activities. 

Here are the ways you can qualify for material participation per IRS publication 925: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p925#en_US_2023_publink1000...Material participation tests.You materially participated in a trade or business activity for a tax year if you satisfy any of the following tests.1.

There are 7 material participation tests and these are the 3 most common for real estate investors AND you need to meet one of them: Spend more than 500 hours on your rental businessDo substantially everything for the rental businessSpend more than 100 hours on the activity and no one other individual spends more time than you doAnother way to offset non-passive income (e.g.

The benefit of going conventional is being able to purchase an MFH without the stringent property guidelines, self sufficiency test, and longer escrow on an FHA loan. 

It seems like you’re positioning yourself perfectly for that with the 50% rule, 750-hour test, and material participation.When it comes to underwriting multifamily deals, just keep in mind that depreciation is not considered part of operating expenses, but mortgage interest is.

So good to know there is another option for those that want to test the waters before jumping in.

Take the GC test.