It's gives you a paper deduction based on your property "wearing out" and can be used to offset rental income and even ordinary income within limits.

Now when I see sharpie drawings on new front doors, piles of crap and toys on freshly poured back patios, filthy appliances...I just roll my eyes and go about my business.

I am hoarding respirators, nitrile gloves, Tyvek suits, AK-47s, and a million rounds of ammo, waiting for the height of the pandemic when the gubmint quarantines and  locks cities down, leaving the sheepeople,  excuse me, ordinary citizens, defenseless.

Most every tax break I get in my rental property business is what I would classify as an ordinary business expenses.

That highest price one was a new build which is why it's a little out of the ordinary.

If you document properly with pictures and/or video, it should be clear to a casual observer whether the damage is caused by "ordinary wear-and-tear" or by abuse/neglect.In every case, I personally consider whether I'm able to defend my charges in court.

Flipping is a taxable event, and taxed at ordinary income rate.

I do have a bias for real estate investing, and think that the effort put into real estate investing CAN give your ordinary individual investor great odds at producing excellent investment results.

Then as I converted equity in to cash by selling some properties and having an above average w-2 income, I can offset my ordinary income with 401k contributions that will reduce my AGI.

Then they count votes and realize they can buy a hell of a lot of votes with other people's money without even directly taking it though taxation like a common ordinary thief... er...