All Forum Posts by: Ashley Whidby

Hello everyone! My question is about rental income and taxes. 

My tenant just moved in on October 1st and I want to be sure I am keeping all of the appropriate records for tax purposes. What records should I be keeping? Any suggestions for record keeping methods? I don't want to show up at tax time with a box of receipts and invoices. 

Also I don't have a CPA, so referral would be great?

What can I expect to be able to deduct from the rental income? 

I know mortgage interest, insurance, property taxes, maintenance expenses,  utilities (I cover the alarm monitoring), and depreciation. 

Thanks! 

@David Rawls a VA is a virtual assistant.

Hi @Quinterrius Eatmon Congrats on the work thus far! I'm really new but I'm soaking up as much knowledge as I can. What have you estimate the repairs need to be? I'm guessing the owner owns the property out right as well. Has the seller hinted or suggested the lowest offer they'd be willing to sell for? The offer may be fine, if you estimated the cost of repairs accurately and it will also depend on how motivate they are. Good Luck!! 

@Melissa Gittens Thanks so much for responding. I'll definitely double check in to that - I think @Dan Leyden is correct, In Florida you don't need any special licenses to manage and rent your own properties in Florida. Thanks Dan for chiming in! 

@Benjamin Pekarek Great Advice and Thanks for responding to my post. I'm researching pretty hard to get the information I need. I kick my self ALL the time as the previous management company I worked for paid for me to take the RE Licence class and state fees when I was a leasing agent but I never got around to doing it before I was promoted. Cant cry over spilled milk I guess. The home we are about to rent out is in my fiance's name but we want to rent it out through an LLC that we would form as a PM company - Something like Ashley PM LLC. and the lease would between the LLC and the resident. Could we operate and a owner operator through the LLC? Since we own the property I wasn't if we need a license to do this. We would not be managing any one else's properties. We're just starting out and I plan to get my license soon but we are going to be renting the property out in the next few months and I won't have the license by then. The listed address we would use for the principal address is going to be a virtual office address. I found a company locally that office the service and its very inexpensive.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks again to all for posting!

Hi Everyone,

My fiancé and I are house hacking our way into Real Estate Investing. We closed on a 4/2 SFH (with FHA financing) last Sept and are preparing to apply for a 2nd FHA loan to get a second property so that we can rent out the first one. My question is about Property Management. In my day job I manage two apartment complexes (~200 units) so I am no stranger to being a landlord. But I want to start a small company to manage our rentals. What's required to start a PM company that will manage only properties own by us - License, Insurances, etc??

Hi Wade,

That is correct. If your sister does not already have the section 8 voucher it can be MANY years before she is able to obtain one. Even when the waiting list are opened for new applications they are likely to be selected by a lottery process - selecting a few hundred from thousands of applications. Kyle is also correct, typically a person with a Section 8 voucher can not lease from a relative. The landlord is required to sign documents certifying that they are not related to renter - this includes being related by marriage or step.

Hi Todd,

In my experience it is absolutely normal to charge extra for a lease that is month to month. At the end of the initial lease if it is not renewed and no notice is given to vacate the property the lease will automatically renew on a MTM basic which results in an additional charge.

In your case since you have allowed the tenant to go 4 years without a MTM charge and the tenants has paid and been a good tenants I would leave it be, but in the future yes definitely charge a MTM fee.

Hi Everyone!

I'm an investor newbie in the South Florida Area. Looking for a 2-4 unit property to House Hack as my first investment via FHA. I've got my preapproval already just looking for the right property. Any suggestions or ideas the best way to find these properties or know of any for sale please let me know.

Thanks!