True or False: Operating costs include your down payment on rental property.

Operating costs typically refer to the ongoing expenses required for the day-to-day functioning of a property, such as maintenance, utilities, property management fees, and other regular expenditures. A down payment on rental property, however, is not considered part of these ongoing expenses. Instead, it is a one-time financial commitment made at the start of a lease or property purchase.

In contrast, operating costs are recurring and necessary to keep the property operational over time. Therefore, when determining what constitutes operating costs, the down payment is excluded because it is not related to the continual expenses associated with managing and maintaining the property. This is why the assertion that operating costs include the down payment on rental property is false.