I’ve been hearing a lot about turnkey properties — homes that are already renovated, tenant-occupied, and ready to cash flow from day one.On paper, they sound like a stress-free way to get started (especially if you’re not local), but I’ve also read mixed opinions about whether they really perform as advertised once you factor in management fees, maintenance, and long-term expenses.For those who’ve bought turnkey rentals:Did the numbers hold up after your first year or two?

.• RAL properties often qualify for cost segregation, which can create very large first-year depreciation and paper losses if you meet material participation rules.• SBA loan interest and startup costs are deductible or amortizable.The biggest tax factor is your time.

Plant where your buy box wins on paper.

Other than that, if you were watching these deals from outside looking in you'd run and they all looked great on paper and passed the whole 70% project cost to ARV test. 

Worst case a subpanel may be required.Water / Sewer - for your added bathroom (assuming) you will need a min. 3" sewer line for the toilet.

Not only for the tenant experience and rentability but in the long term you could potentially condo them and sell or refinance as separate assets to push the paper value.   

Numbers don't always pan out on paper but numbers are also not stagnant.

Best note flow for me comes from relationships first, lists second: I work direct with smaller banks/credit unions’ special assets, property managers and loan officers who flag nonperforming borrowers, and active investors offloading re-performing paper; I’ll also tap a few vetted brokers, but I require full tapes, collateral files, clean chain of title, and recent pay history before bidding.

As Josh noted above, it's really all about proper tagging and making sure each expense is categorized properly and coded to a specific property.one other tip is using an accounting system, you should be able to attach receipts as opposed to having paper receipts. 

I am fully confident in myself doing my own papers if I can just get a question answered once in a while when the answer isn’t easily found to make sure I do it correctly.In the hopes someone here also fully manages their own taxes, I’ll ask here too.Where does a landlord who is also the repair man file their mileage and the home office deduction?