Guides
Written by a landlord, not a marketing team.
I self-manage a small portfolio two time zones from where I live. These are the things I had to figure out the slow way, the tax form, the deposit paperwork, the monthly routine that keeps the books from drifting. No fluff, no listicles. The aim is that a fellow landlord reads one and walks away able to do the thing.
Jamison Cote · Founder, rents.ai · self-managing landlord
Landlord decision library
Start with the decision in front of you.
Worked answers for the records, repairs, leases, and financing choices that are easiest to get wrong in a small portfolio.
Taxes
Water heater depreciation life for rental property
A water heater is plumbing, a structural component on the 27.5-year schedule, not a 5-year appliance. Plus the de minimis escape hatch.
Rent · template
Free rent receipt template (and when you should issue one)
A fillable rent receipt for cash, check, and electronic payments, plus when a small landlord should actually issue one.
Glossary
Guarantor (Co-Signer)
A guarantor signs the lease and pays if your tenant defaults. Here is how the liability works and when to ask for one.
Glossary
Assessed Value
The value your assessor assigns for property taxes, how it differs from market value, and when it is worth appealing.
Investing
Cash-out refinance on a rental property: LTV limits, seasoning, and what it costs
The LTV caps, the six-month seasoning clock, the closing costs, and the before-and-after payment math, from someone not selling you the loan.
Deposits
Normal wear and tear vs damage: an item-by-item guide to what you can actually charge
A 40-item sorting of wear vs damage across walls, floors, blinds, and appliances, each with a typical cost and the useful-life cap.
Browse by topic
Start with the main guide, or open a topic to see every guide in it.
37 guides
Landlord taxes
Schedule E, depreciation, and the deductions small landlords actually use, with the math worked out.
45 guides
Rental property deductions
One expense at a time: deduct it now, capitalize it, split it, or leave it off the return.
19 guides
Schedule E line by line
What belongs on every Part I line, what does not, and the mistake that changes the number.
61 guides
Security deposits
Holding, deducting, and returning deposits with a paper trail that survives a dispute.
8 guides
Rent & collection
Collecting rent, tracking it, raising it, and handling the month it doesn't arrive.
3 guides
Maintenance & repairs
Handling requests, budgeting repairs, finding trades you'd hire twice, and keeping the cost of all of it in the books.
8 guides
Leases & turnover
Renewals, notices, move-in and move-out documentation, and what turnover really costs.
8 guides
Accounting & metrics
The books, the chart of accounts, and the numbers (NOI, cash flow, cash-on-cash) that tell you the truth.
9 guides
Self-managing
Running your own rentals: the systems, the real math against a property manager, and the honest software question.
41 guides
Buying & investing
Buying your first rental, analyzing deals, financing them, and scaling a small portfolio without losing the math.
57 guides
Glossary
Every term a landlord or small investor actually looks up, defined with a worked example.
Glossary entry
Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)Glossary entry
After-Repair Value (ARV)Glossary entry
Amortization
More are in the works. The changelog email goes out monthly if you want to know when a new one lands , see the changelog.