All Forum Posts by: Alberto C.

Thank you. Here  (  https://www.fmins.com/blog/hom... ) it says: "you recently renovated? If so, it’s a good idea to do a home reappraisal. Your home’s value often increases following renovations. And to protect your investments, having an up-to-date appraisal and insurance coverage offers added protection and peace of mind."

So I am curious to understand if it would be good or not to do an appraisal, and if this would crazily increase property taxes.

Thank you. I have never said an appraisal for the loan. I already got my HELOC before I started renovation. I am talking about appraisal after the renovation is done. I am just sharing what the HELOC appraiser said, he said "show the appraiser the receipt, explain that the flooring and all built-ins are real wood or engineered wood, not vinyl." The bathroom itself was a 55k renovation (in wall floating bidet and toilet, custom made cabinets, 30" tiles everywhere except ceiling, walk in shower with thick glass, ditra everywhere), all high quality stuff. I didnt over renovated, it is my house, I wanna live in a fancy house with fancy stuff, that is it, and I might live here forever. But I wanna make sure if one day I move somewhere else (not before 5 years) the sell price will reflect as much as possible the renovations made.

I bought a 1959 house for 300k in 2018, 2400 sqf, in Gainesville Florida, 1 mile north of UF campus. I live in the house and I work at UF. I paid off the loan in 2021 (inheritance plus good savings from my job, and April 2022 I decided to get a HELOC do a renovation, and make the house modern and fancy (R&Q select oak throughout, modern kitchen, took down 2 walls for open space vibe, modern electric fireplace bumpout with cabinets in veneer wood, bar in veneer wood, remodeled master bathroom, Sonos music system throughout the house. Total cost: 300k. Renovation will be completed in 2-3 weeks. Now the house in Zillow is 466k, but Zillow does not know yet I am renovating of coarse since I am not done. In April (pre-renovation) in-house appraisal for the HELOC came up to 420k (and Zillow was 429k so they were consistent). I asked the appraiser how much the price will go up with those 300k renovation and he said "I am not sure without seeing it, but make sure to show up the 300k receipt to the appraiser to try influence him and bump price up". Should I really do that and show receipt to try to bump price up? Only built-in bar and built-in bump-out fireplace were 70k. On the one hand I would love the property value to go up by 50% of the cost of the renovation (150k, which would make the house value go up to 616k, which seems a lot to me). On the other hand, I dont wanna pay a shitload of property taxes. Should I maybe not show the receipts and get a lower appraisal to save in property taxes, and then in the future if I wanna sell (not before 5 years from now) I ask for a second appraisal and show receipts?

Can anyone reply please?

I have bought a house. I rent 3 rooms out of 4 (I am resident there and I live in the 4th room). I read all the IRS Publication 527 (Residential Rental Property) but I am still confused since I don't see my exact case. The table with income and expenses is below. My questions are:

1) I see in one example in Publication 527 that they compute the % to apply to the various deductions as area of rented rooms over total area. It makes no sense to me. My guests all use the kitchen, dining room, living room (they watch TV there more than I do). They store their **** in the garage, use the laundry room,e tc. So I did a computation using 3/4 times the common areas plus 4/4 times the rented roomsplus 0/4 times my room divided the total area of the house. I get 0.71. That is how it should be I think.

2) The guest rooms and common areas are for rent 365 days per year. I rented most of the year, except few days here and there. If for some days the rooms are not rented, should I factor that? I read that the start date of the activity for deduction is from the moment in which the property is advertised. So technically if advertised on Airbnb or craigslist 365 days a year, I think I should not add any reducing factor for the unrented days, correct?

3) I live in Florida, should I go for de Minimis, 179 or bonus depreciation?

4) I have more deductions than rental income (see table below). Can I offset my salary income? 

Thank you

Best

Thank you for your suggestions, very appreciated. However, I said non-American (Australian) and I said that they can only pay with their business credit card. That is not possible with Cozy, Zelle or Venmo, which are for US only. They also said they need an invoice, although I think that any piece of paper/receipt that looks like an invoice is fine from what I understood. I don't think he will ever dispute the charges, Paypal invoice is very clear and I think it could be taken to court. Clearly Paypal has records of the transfer. I am just worried: can I legally do that as a private citizen with no tax ID? Tax ID is optional on Paypal, I have a non-business Paypal account. I was born in Europe, in a country where it is illegal to issue invoices unless you have a tax number. Also, what exactly do you mean by "Though I’d require them to do it as friends and family, so they have no recourse thru PayPal". I see no option that says: "invoice for friends". You can see how invoices are by clicking on "more" on the Paypal summary page and then click "create an invoice". I think it is a great way to be paid by people that can only pay by credit card, especially foreigners and to avoid crazy Airbnb fees. Thanks to my job, I have a network of American and international persons who are coming to town for work and are looking for accommodation. By word of mouth, many people know of my beautifully furnished pool house and I receive requests to book my place by email (most of the time I personally know a person that works with them so everything is super safe, they are in our working network, if not I always call the company to make sure it is not scam). Please advise on the legal side of issuing an invoice. Can IRS complain about anything as long as I file taxes correctly?

Hi, i am a salaried employee, and I just rent 2 rooms in my homesteaded house in Florida just to help paying the loan. One room is vacant right now, and I was contacted by a business man from a non-american famous company, who would like to book my place, but the only way for him to do so is by using his business credit card. I dont wanna use airbnb cause I am gonna be charged 5% and he gets charged $1000 (it is a 3 month stay). I saw that i can create a Paypal invoice, that can be emailed to the custumer with a link to pay with credit card (no need for the customer to have Paypal). There is a 3% fee which is not too bad, and he can pay that he said. The question is: Can I release a rental Paypal invoice as a private citizen? Wikipedia says an invoice may contain a tax number and that "The US Defense Logistics Agency requires an employer identification number". But then I see other website that EIN is not mandatory. I am breaking any Law by releasing a Paypal invoice with no EIN and no tax number of seller, only my name and adddress? If yes, which are the risks/consequences?

Thank you

Alby

Hi Travis, I moved recently from Italy to Florida and I wonder if you could tell me here or privately the brand of the tiles that you like and if they are lasting well. We have great italian brands but as everywhere also cheaper ones. I am trying to find some nice imported stuff for my house in gainesville.Thanks
Alberto

Thank you! Do i have to pay? Can I just write it myself, or can I get a full apt one I found online and modify it to make it for a single room in the apt where I live? Thanks

Dear all, 

 Does anyone have a sample of a lease I could use to rent out a room of a house I recently bought in Florida? I live in the house, and I will rent 2 rooms both with private bathrooms. City code says it is possible as long as we are not more than 3 unrelated persons.

It is my first time renting a property (this is the first one I own) so any extra suggestion is appreciated!

Thank you

A.