I made out cashiers checks for the full amount of the two deals I won made out to them ... and e mailed those in... the guy called me and said no one had ever done that and I need to run that up the flag pole... :)  he came back same day and said it was fine..

Zillow Rental Manager or Avail work great — they handle rent collection, screening, and lease e-signing all in one place.

@James E. 

I can sort of understand that because I don't have a property that I can expense this against in Schedule E.  

If theyre using Schedule E, theres numerous expenses they cant write off like the cleaning services, which is one of the test factors of whether its a passive rental activity or an active business.

Then you just need to be detailed as you're going through the bank rec so you can categorize for each property for reporting and tax Schedule E.

You mentioned your income is around 40k, so if your lender allows up to a 45% debt-to-income ratio, that gives you about 18k per year or 1,500 per month in total allowable debt (including car payments, student loans, mortgage, etc.).Just as an example, I pulled up a property at 4527 E 60th St, Kansas City, MO 64130.

While it’s a rental, you can deduct expenses and depreciation, and report income on Schedule E.

If you would like to hear more about the area and how I got started (as an E-4 with no BAH), feel free to shoot me a message or email.Will

For most STRs, it is Schedule E.