Shifting debt to rental

Shifting debt to rental

Investor · CA · Member since 2023 · 4 posts · 1 vote

I’ve learned a lot from Bigger Pockets, first time posting:

I’d love to get some feedback on where to go from my current position.

Background: we own two houses on a single lot in a residential neighborhood.  I remodeled and added a bedroom to the original house, and then built the second house after.  The first house is a 3/2 and the newly constructed house is a 2/1.  The property is close to a university, so the rent is quite high: $8300 between both rentals.  We purchased the property for $793,000 in 2020 for cash, and then financed a mortgage for building the second house later that year for $450,000 at 3% on a 30 year.

The property is worth about $1.8m now, with a mortgage balance of $420,000.  Our expenses are about $200/mo with a gardener, we manage it ourselves.  My calculated cap rate is 4.73%.

I just finished a full foundation up remodel on our primary residence, we owe $1.22m at 4.25% on a 30 year on the mortgage and have a private construction loan with a balance of 490k at 5% on a 20 year. It's worth about $2.5m and I still have to finish the yard and would like to eventually build an ADU. The rental above cash flows about $5,000 a month and helps offset the mortgage cost at $6300/mo.

My question is: we have a lot of equity built into the rental, but the mortgage rate is so low that my calculations show shifting the debt from the primary residence loans to the rental as being a wash with the tax savings. I can't find anyone who will do a second on the rental anyway, I have found a HELOC — I was debating at least shifting the construction loan over to the rental, but at 5% that still seems like a wash.

I’m open to doing another rental property, I just don’t know if I’m stuck because of how low the rental mortgage rate is, and with how much it cash flows — I may not be able to improve much on that situation.

My wife and I both work full time, and I have a part time second job to make it all work.  I would love any feedback on what to do.  We debated selling the rental to pay off our primary mortgage, our basis is at least $1.1m on the rental property.

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  • Accountant · Bryn Mawr, PA · Member since 2023 · 409 posts · 321 votes
    1y

    More than one question to unpack here.... 

    Is a paid off primary a desired outcome or just a debate?  

  • New to Real Estate · Boston, MA · Member since 2014 · 20 posts · 1 vote
    1y

    There's not enough interest rate arbitrage to be had to make it worth the hassle of shifting debt around. Your mortgage payment is fixed, your rental income is not. 

    At what point do you project rents covering mortgage payments?

  • Investor · CA · Member since 2023 · 4 posts · 1 vote
    1y
    Quote from @Jonathan Bock:

    More than one question to unpack here.... 

    Is a paid off primary a desired outcome or just a debate?  


     Yes indeed.  I hope to retire in 9 years, so debt elimination or cash flow matching debt payments is fine by me.

  • Investor · CA · Member since 2023 · 4 posts · 1 vote
    1y
    Quote from @Austin Moran:

    There's not enough interest rate arbitrage to be had to make it worth the hassle of shifting debt around. Your mortgage payment is fixed, your rental income is not. 

    At what point do you project rents covering mortgage payments?


     Rent actually went down this year.  I would anticipate 5-10 years it would cover 100% of debt, property tax and insurance on my primary.

  • New to Real Estate · Boston, MA · Member since 2014 · 20 posts · 1 vote
    1y
    Quote from @Patrick H.:
    Quote from @Jonathan Bock:

    More than one question to unpack here.... 

    Is a paid off primary a desired outcome or just a debate?  


     Yes indeed.  I hope to retire in 9 years, so debt elimination or cash flow matching debt payments is fine by me.


    Lines up with your 9 year retirement plan, but in this case, you walk away with an additional rental property.
  • Investor · CA · Member since 2023 · 4 posts · 1 vote
    1y
    Quote from @Austin Moran:
    Quote from @Patrick H.:
    Quote from @Jonathan Bock:

    More than one question to unpack here.... 

    Is a paid off primary a desired outcome or just a debate?  


     Yes indeed.  I hope to retire in 9 years, so debt elimination or cash flow matching debt payments is fine by me.


    Lines up with your 9 year retirement plan, but in this case, you walk away with an additional rental property.

     For sure — I’m trying to determine if I’m making a bad move tax wise, or if I should somehow leverage the equity locked into the rental, which seems challenging with the low interest rate of the mortgage.

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