I was born and raised in Canada, but am a non-resident who is self-employed in the U.S. and file all of my taxes in the U.S.

@Luisito EspanolaIf you are self-employed with no employees, look into opening a solo 401k as it will allow you to reduce your taxable income by as much as $53,000 or $59,000 if you are age 50 or older.

Check out www.Bigger Pockets.com/show138This may answer some of your self storage questions.ThanksMichael

There is one other reason I work with Wells Fargo, and that is that it is relatively easy to set up business checking accounts to go with solo401Ks and self-directed IRAs.

They do have some very talented employees who remain committed to their jobs and running into these people can be either a nightmare or a very pleasant dream, depending on what's going on with the client.But I was a little amazed recently when I had a client who was a flipper where the income would have clearly been self employment income.  

Quickly into active income: is self-employment income based on gross?

And you are limiting yourself the opportunity of savings and quality work by looking for someone who can do two trades in one company, if there are 30 demo contractors and 59 framing, you might only have 5 companies who can do both trades, and most probably they are a self-performing GC and have a GC license.

If we were to build, we would be self performing everything, no subs, all in-house employees (frankly, it's not that hard), financials might be a problem, it is not as strong to build a 1-2M project - gross receipts around 300-400k this year if I were to guess and 290k from march 2014-aug 2014 (our 2014 fiscal year), license and insurance is fine, experience??

People arguing for cheaper rents are self interested and not entitled to any special privileges

Here are the numbers:ExpensesVacancy (5%)-$105.00Cap Ex (8%)-$168.00Water (Based on living in the area)-$50.00Management (Will self manage, but still included)-$168.00Property Taxes (estimated from 2015)-$250.00Repairs (8%)-$168.00Electricity (Based on living in the area)-$200.00Insurance (Overestimated based on first duplex)-$150.00Principal and Interest (4% on 114k)-$544.25Total-$1,803.25Income (Based on area)Unit #1: 2 bed 1 bath$800Unit #2: 2 bed 1 bath$550.00Unit #3: 1 bed 1 bath$450.00Unit #4: 1 bed 1 bath$450.00Garage (2 spaces)$100.00Total$2,400.00My plan is to offer a low-ball cash amount and then refinance after some repairs are done.