My question comes in while reading IRS Publication 527 Page 7 there is a section that says "The following are settlement fees and closing costs you can’t include in your basis in the property."

If you're good friends with one tenant and not with another (this applies more for apartments) the "non-friend" tenant that gets hit with a late fee may throw an unjustified fit. 

You should start the depreciating once the property is placed in service.Earnest money deposit that is returned is a non-tax item.

I've raked up a backyard and filled up 4 full sized 50 gallon trash bags of poop after a tenant only being there 1 year (so yeah, I've seen some sh**,  pun intended).The dog isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but you should for sure get a decent sized non-refundable pet fee up front, plus an extra monthly fee that will cover the renovations to put the place back together when they leave. 

Funny thing is in these cases, the public utility is the first to notice and often come by to take a look at the meter thinking something is wrong with their equipment.

Apparently this is the case because condo developments are considered "non-warrantable" meaning the loans won't be backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

If you have access to those non public documents, you are ahead of everyone else.

This may require increasing his income for a short time working extra and cutting back on non-essential lifestyle things or improvements to the property, which isn't his yet.

For a non-warrantable condo it would be impossible.Buy it in cash and use the rent to help you with your DTI on other purchases.

Feels like there's a soft agreement between this couple and the owner.I spoke with all other tenants privately and they seem to be very happy with the current non-property-manager.I like the idea of resident lawn care, but am concerned about legality of a resident property manager (I'm new to this and not ready for employees on a small triplex).