This is only if qualified as "real estate professional", correct me if I am wrong.Some of this is deductible as an expense, some of it should be considered as basis in your next property.For example, the following are expenses of your **current** business and can be written off against your current rental income.Cell Phone and Internet (some people only write off parts of these depending on volume of use, etc)Office Supplies (paper, envelopes, stamps, pens, pencils, etc)Mileage for self management of propertiesTravel expenses for you to go check on your propertiesUmbrella Insurance for current propertiesCPA fees for bookkeeping and preparing taxesLegal fees for ongoing business such as leases and evictions.BP membership if you're using it for research on how to manage your **current** properties, such as tenant/landlord issues, DYI repairs and stuff like that.Unless you are a real estate professional, any expenses incurred to find your **next** property are NOT deductible as incurred and are instead added as depreciating basis to the **next** property you purchase.  

If you intend on going to an llc consider starting the purchase that way.

@Ryan L.I live in Southern Cal and coach Real Estate Investors nationally.A "Letter of Intent to Lease or Purchase" is how I train others to acquire properties.Then have a lawyer prepare all the docs.Finding a lawyer that "works for you well as a real estate investor" is not easy.Try  your REIA in Berkeley.http://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/real-estate-clubs...http://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/california-real-e...Antelope Valley Real Estate Investors Association (AVREIA) – link BAWB – Bay Area Wealth Builders Association – link Bay Area Private Money Lenders Group – link Elk Grove REIA – link High Desert Real Estate Investors Network – link Inland Empire Investors Forum – link InvestCLUB for Women – Orange Count – link Investors Resource Center of America, Los Angeles – link Mt.

My Florida partner took Than's training against my advice.  

Just take action and keep on going.  

You may need to wait for lease renewal time or new tenant before you can start charging them, but that shouldn't stop you from setting it up.You could even include a "service charge" to compensate you for your trouble of going out and checking the meter reading each month.... and then train your tenant to take a picture of it and send it to you to get out of the service charge.

RobertYour tenants have you trained like Pavlov's dogs, you need to break the cycle and turn the tables back around and the training comes from you not them. 

Additionally, at some point with the compounding model of adding low cost units, an investor stops being and investor and goes back to becoming a worker bee: a team must be created and actively managed, analysis on dozens if not hundreds of units must be done on an ongoing basis, additional deals must be found and closed, etc.I prefer the appreciation model because there are substantially fewer moving parts in the investment machine. 

If in buy and hold you train your tenants and select them carefully, you decrease your risk.

Renting to college students can net you some awesome cash flow if you're willing to pick/train the right tenant.