Landlording

I’m a landlord, so I can vouch that there are certain tax advantages to investment property. But it can be a bit complicated. Here’s one question that isn’t as straightforward as it sounds: Is investment property tax deductible?

You can’t write off the purchase price of your property on next year’s taxes. What you can do is depreciate the costs of the property over a span of 27.5 years, so that’s why I say the question of whether investment property is tax deductible isn’t a simple yes/no question.

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Applying to rent can feel like a job interview sometimes. And like a job interview, it helps to prep for it, so you’re not caught off guard. And if you’re a landlord, it helps to ask certain questions so you know if you found the right candidate. Here are some common questions landlords ask, and why.

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While investing in real estate is a common path to wealth, is buying a house an investment? Here’s what you have to consider. It’s not a simple yes or no answer.

By default, buying a house is not an investment, at least not without explicitly planning to make it one. That doesn’t necessarily mean buying a house is a bad idea, however.

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A fellow landlord called me up the other day to ask about a prospective tenant. It led to a few different questions. The one that prompted the longest-winded answer from me was this: Would you rent to someone with bad credit?

Maybe. I’m not the type who lets credit be the deciding factor, necessarily. But if there are other red flags, bad credit certainly doesn’t help. I’ve given advice to would-be renters with bad credit, after all.

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Today let’s tackle the most fundamental question a new landlord might ask. Ideally, it would be one of the first questions to ask: How much rent should I charge?

The math is surprisingly easy. So I’ll tell you the math first, then I’ll tell you the reason.

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While getting a rental house ready for a new tenant, we had to get it reinspected. It failed, on several minor issues. Most failures are due to minor issues. Here’s why our house didn’t pass inspection, and what we did to fix it.

None of these issues ought to be showstoppers. If you’re not comfortable fixing it yourself, a competent handyman can fix these types of issues, and it probably won’t take more than a couple of hours.

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The best brand of paint for rental property depends on a couple of things. But you definitely can make your life easier by choosing the right paint, primer, and supplies. Here’s my experience with painting rental property.

I actually care a lot more about the brand of primer and the grade of supplies. Here’s why.

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