I would recommend you make short question summaries of your current situation and post them on Avvo for free (takes about 1-3 days for Lawyers to respond) and break your situation up into short segments that way you have multiple topics and various lawyers giving you their opinion.I work as a junior accountant I'm sure my co-workers (CPAs) won't mind answering a few questions.post your questions here and I'll get you some feedback.

Short version: when calculating return on a mid- to long-term rental property what sorts of fees do you account for?

@Annette Hibbler Account Closed Ok, so far I've only had two calls out of 200 mailings.

In an effort to keep myself accountable to the goals I set in Brian's thread, at the beginning of each month, I am going to start a thread recapping my previous month with the purpose of reviewing: What I accomplished in the previous month to help me achieve my goals.Where I fell short of my goals last month.

Open a bank account.4.

Interesting Account Closed, did he have a change of mind about selling? 

Set up a checking account and let him deposit the rent into it each week.  

The ideal solution would be to negotiate a payoff at a reduced amount and have them DELETE the account instead of merely showing as PAID.

Think of it like a savings account—you pay tax on your interest, not your withdrawals. 

Often times  accountants write off a lot more than you may be receiving in real life so dont be surprised when the lender uses worst case numbers.- Also when you leave your current home, or vacate your current home will you have a rental agreement(s) in place so you can use that income to offset your mortgage payment?