The lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion is over $10,000,000 so, unless she's over ten million dollars gift taxes don't come into the picture.Where I would suspect taxes become an issue is upon the sale of the property.When you gift property the basis of the person making the gift transfers to the person receiving the gift...

if not (which I suspect), what is going to happen when the pool needs to be resurfaced, the heater goes out, that basketball court needs to be repoured, the weight room equipment needs replacing, etc. 

I suspect that because they don't have "full" kitchens they can skirt the ADU rules.

I'm still suspect of the agent involved.

I saw this once and I suspected it was a scam but curiosity got the best of me and I reached out.

Placing 120K into refi vs loosing about $35,000, depending on how you file your taxes, I suspect you'll fare better if you carry a loss than getting 200K stuck in the property with a very low return.

By consideration, you would then need to research the area to determine vacancy rate, class of tenant, if market trending up (appreciation)/down/stable, is population increasing/decreasing/stable, is population getting older/younger/maintaining, etc.I suspect someone provided you very optimistic numbers that the 50% rule will expose.Good luck.

I suspect there was some 'funny business' and unethical behavior driving what you observed with your FSBO. 

Hi,Ist time landlord :) and asides from the usual suspects lease, addendums, walkthrough,  etc etc are there any NY specific paperwork eg lead-based paint disclosures or anti-discrimination etc I need to submit to my tenants for Orange County, NY?

I suspect it is likely to do better than Denver (it historically has done better than Denver).If it were me, I would sell the Denver place and purchase a personal residence in San Diego but not primarily because I think San Diego is likely to do better than Denver over the long term (which I do believe) or because in the short term it is significantly better than renting, but because I do not want to be at the whim of a landlord that can raise rents, evict, be lax on maintenance, etc.