Rental Condominiums at the Lake of the Ozarks. What documentation do you need?

The Lake of the Ozarks has a booming condominium rental business and many investors are looking to capitalize on this growing sector.  The best part is that you can do the majority of the work yourself, now with multiple sites that allow you to display your unit to renters and even take reservations online. 

One of the challenges of doing it yourself is to keep adequate documentation.  As a Lake of the Ozarks landlord, here are some things you need to keep track of:

    * Purchase price of the condo you are renting out,
    * Accumulated depreciation, and current annual depreciation on your property
    * Rental income,
    * Security deposits you received.

In addition, you will need to keep track of various expenses associated with your rental condo, including:

    * Commissions or property management fees,
    * Advertising costs,
    * Cleaning, maintenance, and repair costs,
    * Homeowners insurance and HOA dues,
    * Real estate taxes and mortgage interest expenses,
    * Security deposits reimbursed to the tenant.
    * and various other expenses, such as utilities, landscaping, garbage, and so forth. 

Travel expenses for the trip where you work on the condo should be documented as well.  Not only might this be deductible, it will also help you with the documentation showing how many personal use days you have for the unit. 

TIP: Days you spend working on, repairing, or remodeling the property are not considered a personal use day.  Keep good documentation and receipts and you can avoid running up the number of days of personal use on your property.  This will avoid you have to split your expenses between personal use and rental time, allowing you to maximize your deductions. Aim for 15 days or less of personal use, and you get the full tax deductions.

If you have any questions about RE/MAX Lake of the Ozarks or buying or selling Lake of the Ozarks real estate, you can always contact John Garrett at 573-302-2320 or e-mail me for a fast response.

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