@John Wijtenburg  great post folks I know that do this.. are fairly if not very sophisticated well cashed up companies.

Most of the time, over-sophisticating things only leads to a mess and indigestion.Doing this will take away your right to a tax-free 121 gain when you sell your primary, and I don't see any tax benefits anyway. 

Gas If owner pays, $100/unit/month Trash Removal $200 per unit Management Fees 5-10% of Gross Income Legal Fees $150 per unit Contract Services $324 per unit per year Repairs and Maintenance 10% of Gross Income General/Admin Varies Payroll/Salaries $1,240 per unit Replacement Reserves $150 per unit Marketing Cost $157 per unitHope that helps.

Use the 1:2 salary/dividend split to limit your payroll tax liabilities.It likely won't replace your salary, but it will help initially while you establish new streams of income.

not trying to pull anything inappropriate here, but I am weighing whether it would be worth the increased payroll costs to recharacterize more of the business income as w2 wages vs pass through income, as qualification standards seem much simpler for w2 wage earners vs schedule c business owners.

So in that way ALL my clients get free estimates.I use fairly sophisticated estimation software to prepare the estimates, and am able to produce various reports such as subcontractor budgets, all materials including cost, number of hours needed, scheduling all for the same 2% charge.

i'm guessing then that i can't use the earnings for other business expenses, like payroll?  

Some people also deal with "sophisticated investors" as well -- people who are not accredited but can demonstrate a high degree of sophistication in real estate investing, such that they can understand the merits and risks of the transaction they are entering.Though the JOBS Act has thrown some wrinkles into this equation, to stay within the law, you must have established a "substantive relationship" with an investor before you can bring them a deal, and my understanding (which could be wrong) is that you cannot bring them a deal that you were already working on when you met them.  

So, they won't be linked.Later, there are more sophisticated multi-property "blanket" loans you can look into, when you're a commercial borrower with more than 10 properties, for example.

There are many leases as there are people, and not all provisions are enforceable just because you get a tenant who lacks legal sophistication to sign your lease.