We lived in a little apartment above the garage and rented out the main portion of the house. 

Quote from @Jeff Roth: Hi Lina from Texas-Congratulations on your interest in investing in mid-term rentals and you are wondering how and where to get started.I get this question frequently from investors.Sometimes and investor is looking to keep their property cashflow positive as insurance and taxes have squeezed cashflow by turning units into mid-term or short-term rentals.First off, ideally, the property will cashflow as a long-term rental should something disrupt the mid-term rental model.You will also want to have the property be near where there would be a demand for mid-term rentals (hospitals, universities, research centers).Monthly rents for mid-term rentals are about 20% (+/-) higher than unfurnished similar long-term rentals.There are property managers that will manage mid-term rentals for you and I always advise my clients to use property managers to keep their investment as passive as possible and for compliance issues related to Fair Housing Laws and local regulations.To Your Success! 

Utilities for the Rented HouseDeductible as a rental expense from when the property was placed in service (ready to rent).

Hey all, first time landlord with ~3 months experience here.I brought a tenant in 3 months ago with an insurance company paying the rent (tenant's house is being repaired after a fire).

Note at “standard” MLS market rent to price ratio, the property tax alone is ~20%.

@Jason Lopez You don’t need an LLC to rent out a house in San Antonio, TX, but it can provide liability protection by separating your personal assets from your rental property.

The rent increases are with no added renovation besides typical unit turnover.

They are a commodity, and owners are competing directly against hotels in this space, so rents are ultra low.

I'm renting it out.

Two other key aspects that worry me about Japan are (1) generally depreciating values of real estate and (2) generally decreasing rents.