Converting Primary Residence to Rental Property

[Emilio Taylor]

Here's our current situation:

1. Have a single-family home in Florida, purchased in 2005 for 202k

2. Travel for business and don't currently use as a primary residence

3. Planning to invest funds into the home in order to increase value, rent the property and refinance to today's interest rates. 

4. Would refinance for only the remaining 180k on the note. The current estimated value of the house from Redfin & BofA is between 180k to 200k

6. If there is any equity, we'd like to use HELOC in conjunction with existing cash to purchase a new primary residence or multi-family that we can both live in and collect cash flow from

Questions:

1. What would be the best method to assess the current value of the house? Hire appraiser or ask bank?

2. Since we're planning to renovate 2 small (6 x 11) bathrooms, paint and new minor kitchen upgrades, does it make sense to use existing cash and credit to fund updates or see if there's any existing equity to fund the renovations?

3. I have an existing LLC, would it make sense to transfer the personal property into the LLC as an Asset to begin the investment portfolio through a business entity and reduce personal liability and being over-leveraged?

4. Since this home is still listed as our primary residence, would it be possible for us to use 203k loan to renovate before using as investment

5. Anything else we should be considering?

Have a great weekend 

- Emilio