He bought a new house around 1995 and allowed one of his sons to live in it for several years, paying only to cover the mortgage.Subsequent to his son purchasing his own home approximately 2 years ago, the house has been mostly empty except for a few months when a family friend stayed in it and only paid to barely cover utilities.

Well our first couple weeks have quite interesting ...but our focus has been on the exterior siding, getting a part time manager, and getting utilities transferred.

Reachable, do you really want to have an automated phone promt system that takes 30 minutes to get to a real person, or do you want to have the phone answered by a real person4.

Cap Imp vs Repair Expense IRSI'm in the middle of doing some 2017 tax crunching last minute so of course I am on Bigger Pockets forum instead of finishing up my taxes :-)Anyways here's a useful tip on Cap Improvement vs Repair ExpensesMy strategy has always been to increase regular maintenance, repairs (Repair Costs) and spread out costs over time instead of the hands off approach to defer maintenance into larger Capital Improvement expenses. 

These two building will need some serious rehabbing plus some utilities, septic,electric to barn ect.

The lot is in Central Phoenix, on a developed street, so utilities, are nearby the land is uneven, I would say the elevation changes around 7 feet, and currently there is a wash going through the property. 

Tax day is upon me and I'm the idiot who who is waiting to the last minute to file the return, should of  had a CPA ..My question is that I did a rehab and repair in the tax year 2016 but wasn't completed until the year 2017 and the property rented out in the year 2017, should I have entered the cost of the rehab/repair cost  in the year 2016 tax return or should I have done the portion of the house that was done in 2016 against the 2016 tax basis? 

The property appraised for $41,000 and i will probably shoot for this number for a sales price with $3-5k down.The one bedroom will rent for $600 with all utilities included and will make the owner occupants payment. 

I would like to use my utility room in the basement to add 2 sets of coin operated machines , but my issue is that where am I going to get the hot water from?

Interesting minute and a half from Warren Buffet on SFR Investing.