Hi all,New Real Estate investor here in the process of starting out.I know that once I own a property any operating expenses, travel etc. are tax deductible but does anyone have any insight into collecting receipts for business meetings and recording mileage relating to starting up investing and buying a first property?

It's never unwise to keep educating... we all need reminders even about "common sense" items... the same is true of changing batteries in smoke detectors, etc.

What I mean is, I go to the tiebreakers listed on my 'general qualifications sheet' and briefly peruse all the apps I received at the same time, looking for move-in timeframe, (they may not want to move for 2 months), term they want, #of people (are they pressing occupancy limits), if they smoke, if they have pets, does their income pencil out, special requests (did they ask to paint or do things to the place?).  

And by party, I mean nodded out on opiates, or smoking crack and turning tricks. 

So you need to factor travel into your acquisition model if you are buying outside NJ.Good luck, I will be acquiring another 100 to 400 unit deal in 2015 using the same approach I shared above.

I have another three more in the pipeline from the MLS at 2.1%, 2.28% and 2.35% respectively - and I don't invest in areas I'm afraid to travel in at night (though my tolerance may be higher than most).

Things like egress windows and hardwired smoke alarms.

I live in Philadelphia, but travel up to Scranton (friends) and Hawley (family) about twice a month!

@Steven TrangI'm traveling to the Midwest in a couple weeks to take a look at a few markets in person.

Preferably newer homes (less than 15 years old).  5)  Hire a property manager (although the homes are local) ~ so I can manage her/him managing my prop's.6)  Hold $600,000 in cash for 2 years worth of expenses (emergency fund) ~ if indeed, I somehow spent $300k per year.7)  Travel, do some hobby stuff, grill out and drink beer, and spend time with the fam.