All Forum Posts by: Anthonie B.

I bought a house about 2 years ago. We have two small kids (2 yrs and 10 months) and the school district in our area is not great at all.

We are thinking about moving to a better school district within the next year or two before the kids need to go to school. The homes in those areas are obviously a bit more expensive since the school district is better. 

I don't think my house will be a very good rental. 4 beds/2.5 bath, 2,200 sq/ft and rent prices are approximately $2k-2.2k for our area for this type of house. Rent of $2k would cover mortgage, property taxes and insurance but no excess cash flow. So in my mind, that is money NOT well invested. Ie. No return (Apart from principal pay down).

Do I keep the house or sell it?

I was thinking of maybe keeping it at first until we have bought our other house and then trying to rent it for a year or so and then selling? 

Any suggestions? 

Keeping it allows us the flexibility to sell it on our terms instead of being rushed/forced to sell which is never good.

Thanks for all the comments. I ended up charging $400 non-refundable pet deposit.

She was happy to pay to keep Mr Whiskers.

My tenant has been in the house for about 5 months now.

All seems to be going fine. I went to do a minor repair at the house and saw a cat which I never new about. She has two dogs which I knew about. She has a $800 pet deposit ($400 refundable and $400 non-refundable).

Any recommendations on how to handle that?

I was thinking of accessing the "damage" when she leaves and withholding the $400 non-refundable pet deposit?

If the damage is in excess of the $400 I will withhold from the security deposit.

I have carpets in the upstairs portion of the house and the dogs and cats are likely to damage those.

Her lease only expires next year. What percentage should I increase it by? I was thinking at least 2% for inflation/property taxes increases.

Any thoughts/recommendations?

Thanks

I have bought and closed on a rental property held in my name in the state of Texas.

I now want to transfer the property to a Texas LLC for protection. The Texas LLC will have a Resident and Non-resident alien (foreign) member each owning 50/50 of the LLC with the resident being the manager of the LLC. How do I do this? I have a note on the property, do I need the banks permission?

Thanks

I need advice. How do I best structure a partnership deal with a family member? 

I am getting $50k from a family member to buy an investment property. I will find the property, get a conventional bank loan, find a tenant, do the repairs etc. and manage the property. The $50k should be enough to cover 20% down, closing costs and minor repairs with a small amount left. The deal should cashflow approximately $400/month. The idea is for the cash flow to build up and cover repairs. Then eventually the excess cash flow can be distributed.

How should I structure the deal with the family member? 

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate your thoughts. I will evaluate carefully.

I have one rental under the belt, so pretty new to investing. I am considering expanding, should I take out a home equity to buy my second investment property? Also, should I borrow against my 401(k) to invest?

Looking for a quicker pathway to make that second investment vs waiting 2-4 years by saving up cash.

Any help is appreciated.