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Money
The money side of running a rental. Rent, deposits, taxes, and the numbers that keep you profitable.
Posts
32 posts-
What renters insurance costs, and what moves the number
The national average was $170 a year and has been falling. State averages run from $114 to $258. What sits behind that spread, and the five inputs a tenant can actually change. Money -
What one rental unit costs to run, by the published numbers
Lenders haircut rental income by 25 percent before they will count it. Here is what the public data says that 25 percent is actually paying for, line by line, and how to run the same arithmetic on your own unit. Money -
Do tenants need renters insurance? What the answer depends on
No state law requires it. Your lease can, and most tenants who decline are declining a policy they have never had explained. Here is what it actually covers, what it costs, and how to have the conversation without a fight. Money -
The turnover, sequenced so the unit is not empty for three weeks
A vacant unit costs about a thirtieth of the rent every day it stays vacant. Here is the order of operations that shortens the gap, the work that only makes sense between tenancies, and the federal rule that catches landlords doing their own paint prep. Money -
How to prorate first month's rent
Three methods produce three different numbers for the same move-in date, and all three are used. Pick one, write it into the lease, and use it for every tenant. Money -
Automating rent reminders and late fees
The parts of rent collection worth automating are the ones you do identically every month and resent doing by hand: the reminder before the due date, the reminder after it, and the fee that attaches on a fixed day. Money -
Should you accept partial rent payments?
Taking half the rent feels like progress and sometimes is. It also resets the number on any notice you have served, so the answer depends entirely on whether you have started the formal process yet. Money -
The rental deductions checklist, sorted the way the form is
Schedule E has fifteen expense lines. Most missed deductions are not exotic, they are ordinary costs that never got sorted into one of those lines. Here is the list, plus the four that get left off most often. Money -
A landlord's tax calendar, in the order the dates arrive
January 31 is the one that surprises people, because it lands before anything else and it is not about your return. Here is the year laid out, with the work that has to happen before each date rather than on it. Money -
How rental income is taxed, from deposit to Schedule E
Rent is ordinary income, but not everything that lands in the account is rent, and not every loss is usable. What counts as income, which schedule it belongs on, and why a profitable unit can still show a loss. Money -
Rental property depreciation, explained without the jargon
Split the price between land and building, put the building on a 27.5-year schedule with a mid-month start, and keep the appliances on their own five-year clock. That is most of it. Here is the rest, including the part that shows up when you sell. Money -
Which receipts a landlord has to keep, and for how long
Three years is the default. Six if you understated income badly, and forever for the documents that set your basis in the building. A retention schedule, plus the four documents that outlive every tenant you will ever have. Money