- YES, if you are a real estate professional with material participation and make the proper written election, you can combine them as a single property on the Sch E and keep your books as if it were 4 properties and assign depreciation to each of the 4, if desired, or you can depreciate the property as if it was a single property.  Otherwise, you should treat each rental separately. WIth QuickBooks, you can use classes to make things easier -- having one class for each property as a sub-class of the group class.

- GROUPING ELECTION. See REV. PROC. 2010-13 AND ELECTION TO GROUP ACTIVITIES PURSUANT TO REG. 1.469-4(c)

- Grouping of more than one rental activity into a single group is generally allowed if it forms an appropriate economic unit. Residential and non-residential rental operations can be grouped. Facts and circumstances rule the analysis, but these are considered:
The amount of income produced by each activity
The similarities and differences in the types of activities
The common ownership of the activities
The common control of the activities
The geographical locations of the activities
The interdependency between of the activities

- Taxpayer must be a “real estate professional” with material participation and must file a written statement with the taxpayer’s original income tax return for the taxable year in which the trade or business activities or rental activities are grouped or regrouped.

- If the elements of the group change by sale, acquisition or regrouping, taxpayer must update the grouping election.