However, as the owner you still need to spend more than 50% of personal services and more than 750 hours on the real estate business on your own.Alternatively, short-term rentals are generally treated as active business income and therefore are eligible to offset w-2 income.Navigating the Real Estate Professional Rules"When measuring material participation, a married taxpayer is required to count any hours performed by his or her spouse, even if the spouse does not own an interest in the business or if no joint return is filed.32 While this rule is advantageous because it makes it more likely the taxpayer materially participates in the real property trade or business, it is a trap for the unwary in the real estate professional context, as discussed below in Step 3.""

I expect you will keep me out of the trap houses and into someplace with decent renters, and a chance for appreciation. 

The issue is, I fell for his traps and gave him 75% of the payment (around 35k) because he kept saying he needed it to get done soon and I did not want to extend my lease too much because it was very expensive to do so.

**Plumbing Concerns: Exposed Plumbing and S-trap in Second-Floor Bathroom** - The use of an S-trap and exposed plumbing in various areas could lead to potential leaks and damage.5.

.: A woman who inherited a home in New York City full of people squatting illegally was arrested and led away in handcuffs after she changed the locks.Adele Andaloro, 47, was placed under arrest at her $1 million home in Flushing, Queens.As the Post further reports, this is the latest such incident - which comes weeks after a couple's plan to move into a $2 million home in Douglaston, Queens with their disabled son was derailed by a squatter who claimed to have an agreement with the previous owner.In another incident, a squatter turned a Rockaways home into a 'house of horrors' with over a dozen emaciated cats and dogs trapped inside.Super unfortunate.

As an investor, I've seen far too many people allow their emotions get the best of them and fall into that trap.

If you did your taxes in 2021 with the rental income reported on schedule E, then you should've also completed Form 8582 which would have given you the allowed losses in 2021 (these would be the ones that created the NOL) in section VIII and the unallowed losses in section VII. 

Before the tenant moved in we installed new walls and carpets, and there's no trash left on premise.After they moved out, the walls are drilled, one area has a sunken-in section.

One of your next big hurdles will be to NOT get caught in the analysis paralysis trap.  

One of which is a rodent issue; to remediate this we have hired a pest control company to do a full service inspection and trapping job for several weeks, but we are still having issues.