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.  

But we have a lot of interaction with guests before they ever arrive - we require a photo ID of whomever has booked our house (and the name and info has to match the booking info), a working cell phone number that we will send a test message to by text to confirm it belongs to the guest (or is at least in their possession), and we converse with them to let them know what to expect from us (and if we have any specific concerns we share those as well) - for example, this week if we had anyone scheduled to arrive we would be discussing the incoming hurricane. 

It’s wise to run different stress tests on your budget to see how it handles fluctuating interest rates, higher costs, potentially lower market valuations, or worst-case-scenario acts of God.b.

Going to test mid-term rentals on a studio unit above a coach house.

I would talk to a lender about the 3.5% FHA rules and regulations as far as the self-sufficency test goes.