And, it will really teach you a lot about people and life in general.Our government employees in Washington D.C. would benefit greatly if they left the marble hallways and managed a number of residential properties.

The tax benefits were a pure surprise.

Joe O I read the forbes article and it is good to hear some optimistic statistics. "...When adjusted for inflation and compared to the market’s pre-bubble 1998 performance, Las Vegas home prices are — despite double-digit percent gains over the past year — still 20% below their pre-bubble healthy market norm....."

Any tips on structuring assets in order to maximize benefits and minimize risk (and effort come tax time)?

Your target should be based on your cost of funds and market conditions, your efforts and management, known and estimated costs as well as tax benefits.

Maybe there's a way you can benefit from using some of my time in exchange for what you know, and I know a good amount about website building, if that's part of your strategy in any way.

Only do the entity if you have partners or equity investors, unless you like to pay lots of money for very little (or no) benefit.

Any thoughts/recommendations as to how I might structure my assets to get the most benefit and help keep everything straight?

Is there a local data book that appraisers go by to make adjustments for carpet vs tile vs hardwood vs laminate, or brick vs wood, architectual vs 3 tab, etc?

Obviously, this arrangement doesn't allow me sell the high points and benefits of seller financing, so my inquiries have consistently returned a flat "no".