I am currently volunteering with my church's repair and maintenance ministry and learning more skills.  

There will also have to be seasonal maintenance activities such as cleaning of the gutters, emptying water out of the sprinkler systems, etc. to eliminate some of the weather related issues. 

Yes, you should be expecting to spend X% of gross income on maintenance and Y% on capital (depreciable) expenses.

@Wayne Brooks Are you saying that my interest, property tax, maintenance expenses and travel in 2015 could be deducted against my other income for 2015? 

Curt, I'm the VP of marketing at a national REI company with a pretty large "box" that I routinely think outside of.  ;-)I'm a flipper not a buy and hold investor, so I don't market properties to renters.  

They go from being a tenant to viewing themselves as a maintenance man or manager.

And I say ASAP because an appropriate rental for me to move into just became available.Here are my assumptions: The condo will be fairly easy to rent The rental income will only cover 75% of my monthly expenses on the condo (mortgage, taxes, HOA fees) but I'm stuck paying those regardless.The rent payment for my new place, and the rent I collect, will be the same on a monthly basis (break-even)Repair/maintenance costs will be the same whether I live in the condo or rent it out (break-even)I will incur new costs for professional management and potential vacancyThe condo is in a good location and I won’t be underwater in five yearsMy front-end DTI is 28% and I have excellent credit with no other debtHere are my questions:From what I’ve read, there is some variation in what lenders require to use rental income to qualify for the next mortgage.  

My first thought was to increase the deductible, since I would be budgeting for maintenance and repairs anyway, it wouldn't take much to have a $2,500 deductible. 

My company will pay for all maintenance and capex costs that are incurred by the home. 

Short + Long term Maintenance: $130 (10% rent?)