Tax Question, General Rental Question in Anne Arundel County.

[Lakshay G.]

Hi there,

-What is the maximum number of unrelated people that can live in one house (unit) in Anne Arundel County? I believe in Baltimore County, limit is two. 

-Are landlords charging a little more if there's a shed at the property and a tenant wants to use it for storage purposes?

-For the landlords who are collecting payments on their name (payment not being written out to LLC or Inc), in your lease are you writing just your full name (Pay to:) or anything else ? I have great mentors who have shared their lease with me but they have LLCs. Although I am pretty close to opening a LLC, I still wanted to ask this question as a general one.

- I purchased my property in 2017 but haven't rented it out yet due to rehab, should I write off the closings costs as well as other expenses when I'll be doing my taxes for 2018 in 2019? 

I am about to start looking for a tenant very soon on my first property. I have lead inspection left at this point which may lead to a couple of repairs (hopefully small).

I can not thank enough to the BP community.

[Logan Allec]

@Lakshay G.

Congrats on snagging your first deal!

#1. I can't speak to this.
#2. Yeah, I'd imagine this is pretty typical.  I have a property with a small shed on it.  I rent it out for storage for an extra $50/month to the tenant.
#3. Yes, the typical practice for those who own property in their own name is to have the payments made out to their own name.
#4. Based on what you've described it sounds like you will have to capitalize your 2017 expenses to the basis of your property.  Also if you obtained a mortgage some of your closing costs may be amortizable.  Check with your tax professional.