He pays what you call regular income tax PLUS 15% self-employment tax (Soc Security/Medicare).

It depends on your location, size of property, purchase price, nightly rate you can get, your upkeep of the property, and many other factors.If your unit shows well in photos and if you build up some good reviews in the first months, and your pricing is reasonable, it will be consistently rented.We have 3 of them, and all less than 1 year so the jury is still out, but in our experience so far, the startup and ongoing costs have been higher than expected, but all are getting good reviews, so in year 2 (now that they are stable) we expect to do pretty well.You have to make sure your town allows it, and you have to decide if you will manage it yourself and take on that extra work (communicating with the guests and people who will clean/make repairs) or if you will hire a property manager, which can be expensive, upwards of 25%.

It depends on what market, but big trends or large employers moving to area or adding plants, colleges adding programs etc.

@Angela SmithA duplex apt should get slightly less than a sfh of same size .

My PM checks credit, verifies income and employment, and checks previous landlord references.

It is also much easier to qualify as an RE professional if the person striving to be an RE professional does does not have other full time employment. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/08/04/basics-of-real-estate-professional-status-tax-irs/If we do two units of rehab in a year (each rehab likely takes a few hundred hours as the hours add up fast), then the wife qualifies fairly easy as an RE professional when combined with her usual RE duties.  

I really don't know the answer.as a kid I worked with them a bunch IE employed them but in those days they spent the night at the Y and would pass out door hangers for ciggee and beer and MD 20 20

If there is anyone in the Portland area who has experience with new construction of apartment buildings of this size, and would be willing to give up a little bit of their time I would love to buy you lunch / beer!  

I cannot add to the account at this point, it was a rollover from a previous employer.

But if you are selling high and then buying high, I’d rather not make a move unless you really need to due to personal or employment reasons.