viking611 said:I got a question...is it considered "renting a place out" if the tenant never pays the rent?
Taxwise ?
I never got into a non-payment issue, it could fuck you bad if you be paying say $800 month mortgage, and not getting the $1100 month rent to pay it, and it takes months to evict, and tenant could do mucho damage as well. Even worse if tenant had kids ( eviction wise).
There be downside potential to being landlord, lots of downside potential. I've been a rentor also. I get a good rate, I don't bug the landlord for nothing, so they keep the rate. As a landlord, I went below market and expected tenant not to bug me with petty shit, it worked. If I had to go there for every stupid little thing I'd raise the rent. My tenants typically had a one year lease reverting to month to month after the term, and stayed 2-3 years.
A malicious tenant could kill you. For example I know enough about construction that I could virtually destroy a home by cutting trusses and stuff, and cause to place to need to be knocked down, all with no noise, much worse than somebody kicking in sheetrock and general trashing, I could target the very structure itself, if I was BAD !