Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Be a Landlord in this Economy.

Rental Real Estate provides more tax benefits than almost any other investment.

1. Interest is often a landlord’s single biggest deductible expense. Interest that can be deducted include Mortgage interest payments on loans you acquired to purchase the property and to make improvements to the property along with the credit card interest used for goods or services related to the property.

2. Depreciation means landlords get back the cost of real estate through deducting a portion of the cost of the property over several years. For example if you paid 100,000 for the property and it’s depreciated over 27.5 years which would be 3,636, you can have that amount in passive income without having to owe income taxes.

3.  Repairs made to the property are fully deductible as long as it occurs in the same year for which you are filing your taxes.  Example: all your 2013 repairs have to be filed with your 2013 income taxes.

4.  Local travel deductions can be taken whenever the landlord travels for rental activity. For example meeting with a tenant or going to the local Home Depot to get supplies for repairs. There are two ways to take this deduction: deduct your actual expenses such as gas, car repairs and upkeep or by using the Federal standard mileage rate which for 2013 is 55.5 cents per mile.

5. Long Distance Travel related to your rental property such as airfare, lodging, meals and other expenses can also be taken as a deduction. For example if your rental property is located in a state you don’t live in and you have to travel to the property.

    6. Home Office space that meets minimal criteria for Landlords may be deducted from your taxable           income along with workshops attended for your rental business. This applies to you whether you own        or rent the home or apartment where your home office is located.

 7. Independent Contractors and Employees you hire to perform services for your rental property, their wages can be deducted as a business expense. For example a Repair person or a Property Manager.

 8. Casualty and Theft Losses if your rental property is damaged or destroyed from a event such as a fire or flood may be deducted for all or part of the damages depending on your Insurance claim these are called Casualty losses.

 9. Insurance premiums for most types of insurance on your rental property can be deducted. For example, flood, theft, and fire policies. And even employees health and workers compensation insurance.

     10. Legal and Professional Services that you pay an Attorney, Property Management Company,             Accountants, Advisors and other professionals. These fees are operating expense deductions.