Consult your CPA for tax impact if you incorporate. Another method involves creating an inter-vivos trust to hold title to each property while you retain beneficial interest in the trust. Your goal here is to set up some level of asset protection and privacy while still keeping things as simple as possible. If you hold title to the rental house personally, you are asking for a lawsuit. Your Team of Professionals should include a good accountant familiar with real estate taxation, an attorney skilled in landlord tenant issues, and a credit reporting agency wiling to process applications and obtain credit reports for you.
Landlords have a tendency to be penny wise and pound foolish.
Don't be afraid to pay for professional expertise in your rental business. If a consultation costs you a hundred bucks and results in saving you one month's rent, you are way ahead on the deal. Don't be a cheapskate. Remember that this is a business that you need to run professionally. Top Home Copyright 1999 by John Adams.