@DianeW777 ,
More about the basement bedroom rental: I was told by a city housing inspector that the only reason it was legal for me to rent the basement bedroom is that it was considered as a spare bedroom in my home. This was important because my house was not zoned as a triplex. The neighbors complained that I had a renter in the basement and she came over and looked at it and proclaimed it a spare bedroom within my space. She made us put a door in the back hallway to shut off the tenants from the basement, although she said they could still come down to use the laundry room.
Later, the basement bedroom was used by my husband as a home office, where we didn't depreciate anymore and just took the simplified home office deduction.
Here is how the basement spare bedroom space was used for the final 5 years prior to the sale:
21.5 months (from 8/18/15 to 5/1/17) as a rental to our adult son (depreciation taken)
18 months (from 5/1/17 to 12/8/18) used as our home office while we lived in the house (not depreciated)
20.5 months (from 12/8/18 to 8/18/20) empty while the house was being remodeled for the sale. The basement sewer backed up and much work had to be redone during that time. Our primary residence and office moved to another house for the final 20.5 months when the basement was empty.
Does this change the answer to question #1?
