The expense is refunded to you at closing.

Is it legitimate to write off the cost of the travel and accommodation as business expenses to see how others do their vacation rentals?

Who has the least expensive set-up and maintenance fees today?

Aside from beer and food, I your expenses should be pretty minimal at UPT. 

I want to get a clearer idea of what travel expenses I can write off, but I don't want to get into a gray area of risky tax practices, so here's my question: If I'm in town for a week, can I treat the first three days as a work trip and the rest as personal time, and write of the airfare and business costs with confidence that I'm not muddying the waters?

I would house hack to start off and use it to reduce your living expenses significantly so you can get into more deals.

My parents bought an expensive home last year and there was no wire transfer fee but he's charging me $40 for it.

Just wanted to add that FHA loans are fairly expensive these days and the mortgage insurance stays on there for the life of the loan.  

Hi Gabriel, since you're in an expensive market I'd look somewhere like Cleveland where your money will go further.

In fact, gross rent (before expenses) aren't usually $2000 on such a property....that would be rent equal to 4% of the purchase price....however, that'd be a screaming deal if the numbers shake out.