FHA guidelines have been set requiring borrowers to qualify according to established debt-to-income ratios. In most cases, the highest debt-to-income ratio acceptable to qualify for a mortgage is 43%, although many larger lenders may look past that figure.
If you paint the rental yourself, deduct the cost of paint. Painting a rental property is not usually a depreciable expense. In most cases, however, you can write it off as a deductible business expense instead. The IRS divides any work you put in on your rental into improvements and repairs.You claim the total cost of repairs on your taxes, but depreciate improvements.ou write off the cost of improvements on your taxes by depreciating them over 27.5 years. Repairs are projects that bring the rental back up to a usable level: Plumbing jobs, painting, fixing broken windows and fixing broken stairs.
If you have less of a gain, you're more likely to fall within the exclusion limit, and if you're gain isn't excluded, you'll pay taxes on less. It's a good deal all the way around. You can deduct any reasonable and customary expenses to get your house sold, and yes, this includes painting. 1  It also includes all those fees you pay at closing, plus any improvements that prolong the useful life of the house. The IRS says that the following improvements will increase your cost basis in the house: 1  Additions and other improvements that have a useful life of more than one year. 2  Special assessments for local improvements. 3  Amounts you spent after a casualty to restore damaged property.