So your super basic P&L may look like: $30,000 Rents-$3,000 insurance expense -$9,000 interest-$3,000 taxes-$8,000 operating expenses-$14,000 depreciation ----------------$7,000 loss on paper for the year  so negative taxable income But remember- $14k of that (depreciation) was something we didn't actually spend money on- so cash in bank at year end would be $7,000. 

You can lose your butt out here if you don't buy right.

Let's say you split the cost of furniture over a 12 month period amortization rate.Furniture costs: $583Rent $1500Utilities $150Total Cost = $2233After vacancy costs, your monthly rental revenue is actually only $2240 Formula for vacancy (2800*12)*.80You're not making money. 

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

I think $10k/mo is good money, other people live in expensive areas or have higher taxes and need $20k.

We have a high saturation of rentals that has caused the market to lose money. 

If we move forward with transferring the deed, we would like a way to guarantee to my father and my sister: a) some return from investments made with money taken out of the house, and b) equal shares in the house if we sell in the future, or a buyout path for either of them.3.

Yes, they can dispute the charge and then the CC company will have to open a dispute that you will have to answer to attempt to get your money. 

Even if they don't realize how much money you're costing them now, someone will tell them eventually and I don't think your canned wholesaling response is going to do much to repair the damage. 

For the most part, most lenders are going to be relatively close in cost assuming we are talking about a straight forward loan product, we all borrower from the same pool of money to make these loans.