On May 8, 4:05 pm, wrote:
I bought a simple ranch style home with no basement a few years ago.
I have not done anything except change air filters and grease the
garage door rollers.

Is there anything else I need to be mantaining /checking? Is there an
internet checklist for 3-5 year old homes?

I have actually been renting it out and claimed almost $12k in
depcreciation over the last three years? What exactly is depreciating
that amount , as the home still feels like 'new' to me?


Depreciation is the greatest myth of most real estate.

Most capital items lose value over time. Cars, lawn mowers,
computers, desks, etc. The IRS doesn't want you to expense these
items and claim the deduction in one year, so they require you so
spread it out. If the depreciation on a computer is 3 years and the
computer cost you $900, then you claim $300 in depreciation each
year. At the end of 3 years, the computer has no book value and
probably no actual value and you throw it away if it isn't up to par.

But with your condo, you are doing the same thing. Over 40 years you
are depreciation it. If bought it for $160,000, you claim about $4000
per year. At the end of 40 years it has no book value. So next year
you've taken $16,000 depreciation on your $160,000 condo and you
decide to sell it for $200,000. Your capital gain is $200,000 -
(160,000-16,000) which is $56,000 (not $40,000). The IRS has
recaptured the depreciation -- there is no such thing as a free lunch.

The good news is that there's a simple way you can generally give a
fully depreciate item to your kids and they can bump up the book value
to market value without tax consequence. The bad news is that you
have to DIE to do it.

Don't take this as tax advice and there are interesting loopholes to
put off the tax man but in the end, the tax man wins.