All Forum Posts by: Blair F.

Christian McGourty Hi Christian, in general I think this a a very good strategy and one I and trying to do as well. I few things that came to mind on your post. Have you talked this through with a lender? You can only have one FHA mortgage at a time. Therefore after a year you would need to refinance your 1st property before you could get a second one for a 3.5% down payment. (I recently refinanced my duplex from an FHA to conventional with improvements to property and market going up). Secondly I believe you need 2 years of rental history on your tax returns for the income from your first rental to count in your debt to income ratio. (someone can confirm as no first hand experience yet). You will need that income to count to qualify for your next mortgage.

Justin Pumpr I only own one duplex and as it is my primary residence I have not done an LLC. I have quickbooks and track all receipts for repairs, improvements, and supplies. I run the quickbooks on the rental as a business. I split all joint bills (water, taxes, insurance, etc) in half and input the half related to the rental in quickbooks. Provide the quickbooks to your CPA for taxes and they will book depreciation on the rental portion of the duplex, and take care of schedule E, which for me helps offset my W-2 income. If you screen tenants well, the other items are not a huge issue with basic systems in place, no need to over think it. :)

Justin Pumpr I've lived in my duplex next to my tenants for almost two years. I use Cozy.co for auto online rent payments, super user friendly for both parties and free. Also, I am very professional on all landlord/lease/email issues, but I am friendly face to face like I would be with any neighbor.

Haha yes. Hello again. Made a big move and after creeping around Bigger pockets I figured I should finally sign up. Hurricanes are def new to me both in living through them and in real estate

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I will make to sure to read the suggestions.

Hi there BiggerPockets. My name is Blair, I'm from Michigan and have recently relocated to New Orleans, LA. I'm an auditor and CPA by profession. I found BiggerPockets through listening to this and other real estate podcasts. I am working to fully educate myself and then look into multi-family properties including owner occupy at some point in the near future. Looking forward to learning more about my new market as well.