Thank you.First, if the OP only planned to flip a very small number of houses, he could argue that he's not a dealer, and pay cap gains rate.

When I saw that name today and just felt something looked a little off, I just thought it was best to put the heads-up to the OP to do good homework and understand what the history is.  

@Tim Bee The OP said this is a beach rental that is "turnkey and fully furnished". 

@Nathan Phan  do you have any input for the OP?

I'd say what OP is suggesting is not really what is controversial since this would be his primary residence and only rented out part time. 

That said, OP needs to go see the homes stat! 

But I could see the wacky licensing possibly being truthful as the OP is regarding Philadelphia and many larger metro areas are stricter with licenses and permits than other places. 

I don't know if I should crawl into a corner and cry or take the OP's story as an inevitable and move on..

The OP actually said many nice things about the renter, read her post again. 

I rarely read anything more than my few followed categories so I’m wondering what topics others are emotionally invested in.Often, the posts go on and on and never really address the OP’s original question.