I am going to start to be more active in the forums here.

I have been kicking around the idea of getting my license in New York even though I am not actively looking at real estate in NY or do I really intend to get a job as an agent. 

@Katie Thomas Assuming you are an active participant, if the average rental period is 7 days or less, it's active income...substantial services or not.

Background:In the Class Action Complaint (linked below) the Judge accused the NAR of fixing prices and states, "For decades, home buyers across America have been unwittingly paying too much for, and receiving too little from, services offered to them by real estate agent members of NAR.Despite agent representations (which NAR permits and encourages) that such services do not cost home buyers anything, home buyers in fact pay a hefty cost for these services—namely,  supracompetitive commissions at levels fixed by the Defendants, which in turn lead to higher home prices paid by buyers...as part of their membership, brokers must also agree to follow NAR’s rules, practices, and guidelines.

They have chapters throughout the US, and are very active and have a lot of education and people you can learn from. 

While I am not an accountant, and you should speak to yours about this, there is a loophole in the tax code called the STR Loophole which allows your STR (provided you are not using a PM) to be counted as active income/active expense so that the costs, payments, depreciation etc. goes against your active W-2 income.

There are some in the Reno, NV area that offer tenant screening services only. 

Tax considerations involve a lot of personal, specific considerations so you are on the right track going for a CPA (make sure they are familiar with income properties and short term rentals).STR is a business and involves "active" income versus "passive" income associated with typical long term rentals.A few general things:1.

They have recently added staff to improve response rates, we have seen steady activity even this far into the winter and conversion from leads to tenants has improved as well.

So if you want to decrease the agent's asking fee, the agent may reduce the level of service provided.