OK, thanks for that explanation. I think I follow what you are telling me to do. Basically, on the property info section, I ignore the program when it asks me for the value of the improvements. Then when I get to the screen that is asking for the value of land and improvements, I just enter the info that the assessor provided so the program can get the ratio of land value to improvement value. Then later, on the depreciation screen for the house, I enter all the improvements I've made one by one, including those that I made while I was living in the house as an owner occupant. Is that all correct?
I can tell you right now that all my expenses plus a little bit of this depreciation will more than offset the income I made from renting the property in year 1. In other words, I'm going to show a loss on this property in year 1, and I don't need all this depreciation for that to be the case. I'm not sure I'm going to keep it any further. I may just sell later this year. Do I have to take all this depreciation? And if I do it this way, when I go to sell, am I going to get dinged for depreciation recapture for improvements I made to the house when I was still living there as an owner occupant, even though I didn't need that depreciation to show a loss on my first year as a landlord?
