All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Knisely

So I lived in my fourplex for five years, moving between three of the units over that time, fixing them up as I went. 

I purchased the property using an FHA loan, where I have to "intend" to live in the property for a year, which I obviously did. And with the "two out of the last five" rule, I assumed I wouldn't have to pay capital gains on 250k.

Am I mistaken? Will I have to pay taxes on 75% of the gains? Does it matter that I lived in at two of the units for at least two years? 

I own a fourplex, and I live in one of the two bottom units, have a tenant in the other. I get a text while I’m gone saying that her toilet and bathtub are backing up. I call a plumber to come snake my drain after hours and it’s $600. A lot of wet wipes, and everything else, come out of all the drains during the process. My tenant tells me she’s been flushing wet wipes down the toilet.

Can I charge her for this when I have two other tenants? How should I go about this? Just suck it up and pay?

My friend and I each separately own one property in Alaska. Property here is very expensive so buying property as quickly as we would like is less obtainable- not to say that there aren't people who are very successful in this state through real estate investing. We have recently been discussing going into a partnership with each other to take off the load of a down payment, and the rehab. We plan on putting the partnership on paper and making it completely legitimate(50/50 split). What we are unsure of is the actual buying process.

Would we both be on the loan?

Would both of our names be on the title?

Or is everything going to be under just one of our names?

Are both routes an option, but one easier than the other?

I have a 2 bed/1 bath unit just put up for $1100/ month. I set a monthly income minimum of 3x the monthly rent. I have interest from college students who qualify, except for the monthly income. They make the bulk of their money in the summer and have a good savings, but they only have part time work now, that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements.

If I accept their application and allow them to rent, would that not be treating applicants differently, which is not allowed?

There are a lot of college students in the area, and I would like to avoid this dilemma in the future. How do other people handle this situation? I don’t ask for the amount of savings people have in my application, but is that something I should be adding on. Or depending on their savings, disregard the monthly income?

I recently remodeled a 2 bed/1 bath unit and have just put it up for rent for $1100/month. I pay all utilities except for electric.

Can/Should I raise the rent a little bit if more than two people want to move in(maximum four people)?

My thinking is that four adults will cost a lot more in utilities, but I’m not sure if raising rent is something commonly practiced when there are extra tenants.