But if you take the losses (including early depreciation), how much would you save in taxes when you apply it against your ordinary income? I would assume it’s a pretty penny at the very least. You made the mistake of buying too high, but what’s done is done. You now own the property and the tenant is paying your mortgage for you. Before any tax deduction, you’re at $0 or slightly negative, but you’re assuming that the mortgage lasts forever. Assuming you didn’t refi, you bought the property 11 years ago, so you probably have 19 years left before the property is paid off by your tenant(s). Which means in 19 years, you have a paid off house, paid by other people’s money. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me in the long term.
But, to me, based on your knee jerk reaction to an increase of $100/month in your cost, maybe being a landlord is not for your. That’s OK. It’s not for everyone.