With shopping centers, if they are not up in performing, the carrying costs could kill you.

So, if I do this with both of my properties, I can go to the bank, claiming $X income, and nominal expenses for things like maintenance and management fees (despite the fact that I'm personally carrying the mortgage)?

A lot of them won't touch anything if a seller is going to do a seller carry back.

I carried a Glock 22 for years and still do.

If I went to the Inland Empire, I could spend $80,000 and get $1,000 a month in rent, but I would need to "carry" to collect rent, the house would be 80 years old and covered in graffiti.

Welcome to BP Nation and thanks for the post, it was a great introduction and conversation starter.I too have a very similar business to Jason and have also considered owner carried notes, the problem (as he stated) is selling that note to cash out requires selling at a discount and that discount would typically erase the spread I generated at acquisition and rehab.Hopefully, you can shed some light on how you did this correctly and profitably.I have heard that same definition of financial freedom, however, to be truely "passive" you must be able to have that monthly check come in no matter if you are sleeping, crusing the oceans, vacationing or whatever.

While you can't write them off this year (because of your AGI), you will be able to carry them forward and write them off in a future year when your AGI (and loss limits) allows.Unfortunately, this is just one of the detriments to how the IRS defines "Real Estate Professional" and I'm not sure there is much you can do to offset it.Personally, I disagree with you CPA about investing in a personal residence first just because you can't write off the losses.

If the tenant can't borrow money from friends/family, why would you carry them?

Oh, and, if you have a ccw, this would be a good time to carry, because some sellers may not have a lot to lose.

To help absorb the carrying costs of financing flip properties, I agreed to remodel an unfinished basement in exchange for a lower-than-market rent for myself.