You are going to pay an extra 3.9% on investments outside of tax-sheltered vehicles (since Obama now considers you rich).Unfortunately, there's no way for real estate to lower your taxes.  

From all of this you SHOULD have questions, since I glossed over and skipped a bunch of details.

I would love to jump on a call and answer some of these questions in more detail.

I took him to the house and he estimated about 24k in repairs but did not provide a detailed repair estimate.

This is where I must bow out and let the super experts give you the details from the source

PM or email me the details, my broker might be able to help you even though your time on job is non-existent 

Is it worth the maintenance and all the extra costs?

I don't mind paying extra for a quality report if necessary. 

@Adam Soyak I think the brown existing door looks great with the color of the siding and trim you chose, white would look good too, but why spend extra money if it already looks great.

Is it worth the maintenance and all the extra costs?