Tenants are responsible for ordinary pest control like flies, spiders, the occasional mouse, etc.

At the same time, the Air BNB market is gaining some momentum, but the biggest limiting factor for expansion for most Air BNB operators is the initial capital investment to acquire a new property.My solution is to pair the two by vetting and working with experienced Air BNB operators who want to expand, but don't want to be relegated to negotiating over and over again with landlords who can't rent their house to an ordinary tenant or don't have the cash/inclination to stick 20% down payments into these properties. 

The average American spends half of their income on two things: 17% on transportation and 33% on housing.

Look him up on YouTube--he has TONS of content, he's written a few books, and he's committed to helping people learn tax strategies to save money and help them live the American dream!  

Anyway I'd like to be able to get back into a similar market for the simple reason that a decade (or more) from now I'd like to have a property in a desirable, urban neighborhood of a major American city.

I actually do not think this area will ever fully gentrify as statistically african american majority neighborhoods do not gentrify fully in Chicago there is a lot of research into this.

But my common-law/girlfriend is an American citizen and actually originally from Seattle.

Do you know any great RE lawyers to recommend who has experience with American buying properties in Mexico?

@Daniel ReminAn expense has to be "ordinary" and "necessary" for an expense to be deductible.The HOA would put a lien on the house if you decided to stop paying the HOA fees.HOA fees in my book are entitled to be deducted on your return.

Why not hang in to it for a bit and see which way the wind blows...not to mention you would switch to the cap gains rate after a year instead of ordinary income, and you might be able to leverage more if value goes up...which it could by increasing rents...