Your title co should be able to do a O&E report for you, which will show you liens and judgement & mortgage records, & how the property was conveyed, etc.

It (and especially Marty's McDonald's reference) reminded me of Michael Gerber's book "The E-Myth Revisited".

I have heard that income would be the taxable amount on schedule E (line 22) + depreciation, but if that's true, I would have qualified.

.* Get the prior Sch E's from the owner if possible.* Grade the neighborhood: crime statistics, school quality, bus line access, parks, shopping, amenities* It's a negative if the bldg is in a large 4-plex clustered area; proximity to SFR's is a plus.* 5% vacancy is too low for a "low end" 4-plex.

, their level of responsibility and authority and the biggest one is can they be trusted (have they been trained) to deal with your tenants in a way that you and your interests are always represented in the most positive light.There is a book out titled The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber that addresses the issue of expanding a business from just the original founder and doing it successfully.

Then there is a table for each calendar year with the Secedule E categories across the top, and dated entries on each row.

Steve E. come on down, we will make room for you.

Very simple process, about 15 minutes to fill out forms and e-mailed back.

Thanks for the concerns though, some people do tend to take advantage...So I should show the rent paid full and the FMV of their maintenance or whatever in that category of the Schedule E?

Anything with the letters R-E-O area causing prices to shoot up to market value.