Hello Mike, thank you for the reply, you are the right person to listen to.

If you tell them you're a landlord and you own the property but aren't living in it, they should be able to quote you for liability, the house, and a much smaller amount of personal property (appliances like your fridge or stove)

Personally, I think the taxes are high and the services you get for your taxes low there.I know people that invest in Detroit but you must know the area down to the street and have excellent property management.However, I just talked to my CPA today about a referral he was sending me who is a client of his that has 30 rental properties in Detroit and selling them all because the City doesn't really help, charges for everything, and they never have given a security deposit back to a tenant after they stayed because of their behavior or lack of payment.

Thank youStaton As long as it was advertised and available to rent you can deduct it.The only exception is if you had personal use above 14 days in that year.

The most important thing is to interview each person and do your due diligence on what matters to you.

Personally I wouldn't use Zillow, I can only imagine they want to introduce a future fee for the service.

I had called Audible and ASKED if the CD was available...which means I want the info ON THE CD...and the person I spoke to just said the CD was not available with the audio version...so why not tell me that the information is available ON THE AUDIBLE WEBSITE?

Personally, I believe there are much better ways to invest in RE, even with limited knowledge or bandwidth. 

Or even riskier: a commercial balloon loan with a high interest rate and a personal guarantee that is due IN FULL after 5 years!

They don’t have an office but a single person who answered.