If you put your money into an IRA you get hit with a penalty if you withdraw it (and taxes if it's an IRA and not a Roth IRA); and if you don't withdraw it, I think you will be taxed on it as ordinary income once you withdraw and lose out on the tax benefits of investing in real estate. 

First, you can't charge tenants for "ordinary wear-and-tear" and it sounds like that's what your manager is telling you.

These laws have made being a landlord in some of the largest American cities far more difficult.

You still save the $8400 or so in SE taxes by running the income through an S-Corp.ahh ok - so with:SE OPTION120k gets the SE tax of about 12% ($14,400) + the ordinary tax of about 25% ($30,000) = about $44,400 total taxSCORP OPTION120k gets divided up so only 48k gets the 12% SE tax ($5760)+ the ordinary tax on that 48k of about 25% ($12,000)+ the ordinary tax on the remaining 72k of about 25% ($18,000)= about $35760 total taxright?

Hi @Ankur Agarwal I recommend Patrick Sullivan w American Residential Inspections (out of Mansfield) He's found on Google or go to TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) to get his contact info.He's super thorough & straight forward.

Person B purhcases a home in year "X" and this person realizes he could sell the house for the same profit the same time Person A does, but waits 12 months and day before selling it for the same profit (>1 year = taxed on ordinary income).

I picked a number out of the air to represent ordinary income tax rates as a hybrid of state and federal.

I would prefer to work with a professional since we are a 4 investors, 2 internationals (my parents) and 2 American residents  and I don’t want to make mistakes.

@Elvis Nasi I personally love American Express in general.

As an African-American woman, there are grants for helping with business startup.