All Forum Posts by: Alex Nelson

You came on a forum for landlords and asked how much money you can squeeze out of your landlord. Did you expect everyone to be nice? I do not know a single individual that would move into a house with as many problems as you have listed without some sort of motive. I'm not going to call you a scammer or a "professional tenant". But if you willingly moved into this residence after knowing all of these problems and are already looking for compensation after 3 days... something is fishy. Why would you not look for another residence? is this place dirt cheap? I can't imagine what would make you agree to stay here or go through the great lengths that you have to document all of these issues if your intent was not to use it against them to gain something.

My advice would be to mutually terminate the lease and move on to a better house that actually works. As others have said, your only compensation that I can see being reasonable would be your moving fees. 

@Eamonn McElroy Is there a rule that says it has to be used 100% for business use? I thought i remembered hearing that it just needed to be it's primary use. Seeing as i use my phone for everything "recreational", this computer i would say is going to be 85-90% real estate use.

Hi Guys,

I thought I remembered hearing that if you purchase a laptop that will be used for investing, that you can write this off as a tax deduction as long as it is used primarily for investing purposes. I have just purchased a laptop recently because I did not have a functioning one previously. I use it to look up properties, run numbers, and access my Cozy to manage my rental. Am i able to deduct this from my taxes?

Side question - I am on my first property now and am almost done with the renovation. I did collect one months rent from the previous tenant before they moved out and i started my renovation, but since then i have not collected any rent from the property as it is in the renovation phase. Does this cause any problems with taxes if i'm writing off most of what I'm spending for the renovation? I'm worried that since it hasn't been rented out for a majority of the time I've owned it and because I do not have any other investment properties currently, that i will not qualify as "an investor".

thanks you for any input that you can give!

Hi BP community,

I am in my first year of investing. I currently own one duplex which i am still renovating and hope to start renting here in a few months.I purchased this duplex last year and have never filed taxes as a homeowner/investor. I figured it would be a good idea to seek out the help of a CPA that is well versed in real estate and investment tax laws to help me with this. I have always filed taxes myself using turbotax or something like it. I have never used a CPA so i am unsure how to find one that would be knowledgeable in real estate.

What is your best advice for finding a CPA who is savvy in real estate taxation? do you think I need to use a CPA with only 1 property or should I save the cash and do them myself? what questions would you ask to determine if a CPA is real estate savvy?

thank you!

@Greg H. any idea how to finish the edges of these? I just don't want the cut end to be raw on the edge of the counter top

Hey DFW investors,

I'm currently renovating my first rental and have decided i want to put laminate counter tops in with my new cabinets. I checked out HomeAdvisor recommendations for laminate counter top installers and it only shows me one person. When I tried to set up appointments with this person they canceled on me twice, once with no warning and once within 30 minutes of the appointment. Now I'm looking for alternatives and wanted to know who you guys use or if anyone can point me in the right direction?

The duplex I'm renovating is in Arlington. I'm not sure if the typical granite guys would also do laminate or if there is a more specialized person i should be going to. If anyone has a rockstar laminate installer, please let me know!

Hi guys,

I'm in the middle of my first project ever and it's taking considerably longer than I expected. I am learning a ton from doing almost everything myself, but it's taking me months longer than I expected to do my project. I'm renovating a full duplex. I've already completely renovated one side and am halfway through the second side now.It's taken me close to 5 months now and I'm still working. (i know this is much longer than most people's renovation time line, but this is my first house to ever work on so it's a slow process)

I was just curious, how long did your first DIY renovations take? Also give details like how big was your project, what did you plan for and what did it actually take. what would you have done differently?

thanks! I look forward to hearing how everyone elses projects go!

Hi BP!
I'm looking into investing strategies and have been looking into Section 8 housing. I know that the rent is based on the preset FMR which is decided by HUD. My questions is: Is there any way to see the history of the FMR in a given zip code? for example, if i find a zip code that has favorable FMR versus purchase price, i want to make sure that this isn't something that has just happened and will go back down in a year. I want to see sustainable growth of the FMR or at least that is has been consistent. I don't want to buy in an area expecting a high FMR only to find out that it was inflated for one year and dropped back down the next year. Is there a way to find the history of FMR for the past 5-10 years?

Edit: sorry for the typo in my title. It's supposed to say "Can you get the FMR History" but now it won't let me correct the title.

Hi BP,

I'm in the process of renovating my first investment property. It is a duplex in Arlington TX that i am currently living in and have almost finished with renovations on the second unit. I am considering renting the units out to section 8 tenants. I've been doing some research into this and i keep seeing that tenants are required to pay 30% of their gross income towards the rent and the rest is covered by HUD. my questions is, who is actually responsible for paying the rent to you? Do you get one check from HUD and another check from the tenant? Does the tenant make payments to HUD and then they send you one check for the full amount? How does this work?

Thank you!
-Alex

Hi DIY people,
I'm in the process of renovating my first investment property and it is becoming time to paint the exterior. I've been getting quotes and deciding if i should do this myself or contract it out. One contractor that i talked to said that they use Sherwin Williams A-100 paint for their investors. Which I'm worried is code for "Cheap Paint" that will go bad in just a few years. Does anyone have experience with this paint? Is it good quality? or should i spend more for super paint instead? Is there a different brand that you find works better than sherwin williams?

Please let me know any recommendations that you guys have for a good exterior paint that is worth the price. I understand you get what you pay for, but i don't want to pay for more than i need. I need it to withstand Texas weather which can change quickly throughout the day and gets quite warm during summer seasons.

thanks for the input!
-Alex