All Forum Posts by: Aaron Taulbee

By the way, can you imagine the mixture of excitement and disappointment by getting 5 numbers and no Megaball? Wow, I mean on the one hand you just struck it big; but then again, you just made 0.001% of what you could have made with the last ball.

Joel, I agree:

1. Lump Sum. Annuities are tied into the Lotter folks buying Goverment Bonds at today's yield rates...I would hope most people on BP (including myself) could beat those rates.

2. I'd probably have a Tax Attorney and a CPA hired before I collected. With that much coin, I'd rather donate crazy amounts to various charities if I could justify with rationale of not giving more back to Gov't. I understand certain tax strategies after you have the money; but was hoping someone might have a nugget for how to minimize tax due to lump sum distribution without anything to offset.

3. I'd want to work, but I would choose from where and how I work a little differently. I'd hire some Commerical Developers to work for me. Seems right now you'd be better off renovating what you can buy at discount than building from ground up; but I'd have at least one big job in the hopper at all times.

Disclaimer: This is not my retirement plan, when it gets this high I buy no more than $5 in tickets. Wish me luck.

So the MegaMillions Lottery is upwards of 1/2 of a Billion Dollars to the winner this Friday.

Thought a brief discussion could be fun:

1. Lump Sum or Annuity?
2. Creative ways to Minimize Taxes on Winnings? (Rich, anyway to show me how to make this number zero would be awesome)
3. Would you still be interested in the work of REI, or would you sit back and live off interest made by others using your money?

Let me know what you think, as I have about a 1 in 176 Million chance of needing to know soon.

Rain pan pricing does not shock me. I'm sure only 10% of that cost is the metal, the other is the labor. If this was an add on to a roof replacement job, I would say it is high; but most companies charge more when they are only coming for something small. I have never priced or replaced anything associated with that metal though.

The glass seams high for single pane, if it is insulated then they have to come out and take measurements and send off for fabrication. If that is the case there is at least two entities putting a 15-25% markup on the materials. If they are stock sizes, it might be more cost effective in the long term to replace completetly; but that depends on how the windows tie into your existing building skin. These type of questions are hard to answer accurately without seeing the conditions.

Thanks for the replies. This is what I had figured. Doesn't sound worth the risk to save some on front and back end. The lakehouse I was interested in turned out to be a turd when I went to look at it yesterday. I'll keep saving and do it the right way down the road.

I had meant Driver's License. I figure between bills, address on your driver's license, and the address your W-2 is mailed to; those should account for where you live in the IRS's eyes. I realize this is gray; and in general I like to put 20% down or more, as I was able to do on primary. This would be a property that does not cash flow, but would have instant equity based on purchase price.

Couldn't find a thread that addressed this very clearly:

Currently live in my Primary Residence in suburb of Atlanta, GA. I'm interested in buying a lake property in N GA Mountains. In order to not put 20% down and keep more cash for rental down payments/repairs, is the possible scenario possible and above the board?

Buy Lakehouse with 3-5% down as it is intended to by Primary Residence. Switch licenses, billing addresses, etc to new Lakehouse Address while changing insurance on primary residence to make it a "second home".

In addition to saving on down payment percentage: It seems like if I "lived" in Lake House for 2 years, and moved back to current house for additional years before selling, I could sell either without paying taxes on gains.

What am I missing? How does the IRS officially determine where you live percentage wise when you have two homes within close proximity to each other? Before I consult a local Attorney/CPA, what are the legal and tax concerns with this type of planning?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Generally, north of I-20 is better, although there are still some rough spots in between areas where home buyers came in during the mid 2000's and fixed up properties. I would not buy anything in Atlanta without seeing the house neighborhood during the day, and at night. Stick to the top end perimeter area and the northern suburbs.

@Bienes: The folks that I legally reject to live in my properties, or the occasional evicted tenant are the folks I'd have some concern about, more for my wife than myself. I plan on treating tenants well, so the majority knowing where I live is not a big concern.

@Mark: I've heard of that idea. Does this hurt my debt/income ratio for future loan prequals or is that ratio dependent only on what you've taken out of a HELOC?

@Kyle: My home will be less than 30min from rentals. I'll ask about laws in Georgia in regards to Owner's Address in the lease.

Thank you all for the replies.

I'm in the market to buy my first investment property, likely a duplex in the Atlanta suburbs. I've been fortunate to have bought/sold my first home and roll the majority of the profit into my current home, so I have $200k+/- equity in my current residence. I plan on holding title to my investment property(s) with an LLC, and I will likely purchase an Umbrella policy to boot. Questions:

1. Do most investors put their primary residence into a seperate LLC or their wife's name? Would this be beneficial in a "worst case" pierce the Investment LLC veil scenario?
2. Do most use give their personal address to tenants for mailing checks to, or do you use a PO Box to keep them from knowing where you live?
3. Anyone use Google Voice or similar to have a seperate number for tenants to call apart from your real cell phone number?
4. Am I overthinking the need for anonymity?

Any help is appreciated. I've really enjoyed the wealth of information I've been absorbing on this webpage to date.