All Forum Posts by: Brandon Roof

This is going to come down more to how it is anchored as opposed to the towel rack itself.  If you can line them up with studs and drive multiple screws, great.  If however you cannot, look for the best applicable anchor that can hold the most weight.  There are many options that will hold hundreds of pounds.

I haven't taken the time to explore the individual line items you provided, but the total itself is near the range of what I recently saw with a $65k property which had closing costs of $5,200 (which included some taxes and insurance).

Although inconvenient, I don't believe it will be a deal-breaker for many potential tenants.  They are likely going to be more concerned about the location of the property, the cost to rent it, whether it is pet-friendly, etc.

That being said, if you have the height for a stackable combo or can arrange them side by side, it wouldn't be too much electrical work to bring the dryer into the kitchen.

This is pure speculation on my part but it feels like they may be trying to capture one more month of rent from the existing tenants.  I'd let them buy 10/1 from me for whatever a month's worth of rent currently is (or if you'll be increasing rent, I'd aim for that figure) or stick your heels in with 9/18.

I am not a financial adviser, so the following is more for information purposes and not advice.  To answer your question regarding the down payment, I don't believe so.  The IRS would likely take issue with you purchasing an investment property with your 529 plan.  What they may not take issue with is your parents purchasing an investment property and charging you rent, with the rent coming from the 529 plan.  This is a bit of a bummer for a couple reasons as it doesn't address your down payment and they are going to get taxed on the rent they collect.

Another thing to consider with this scenario is that it could be state and/or university specific.  From my understanding, your rent cannot total more than university housing.  If staying in a dorm runs $1,000/month, your parents couldn't charge more than $1,000/month for your rent.  If you take on your friend as another tenant, it may help outweigh some of the potential cons that would come along with this process.

Hopefully an expert in this area will be able to provide a more concrete response, but I unfortunately don't believe it will work out as you have proposed.

This is an all too common scenario in many relationships and I feel proof of concept may be the biggest thing here.  Generate some sort of return with little to no investment (a wholesale deal, lease option, etc.) to help better put their mind at ease.  Continue to tack on increasingly larger deals until the comfort level reaches the point to pick up the commercial multi units you strive to acquire.

This is unfortunately quite common and can take a number of months.  Not much is going to really speed things up on the banks end of things.  Having an experienced and responsive agent will likely put you on the quickest path, but quickest in this context is all relative.  It's more about how quickly they can navigate and turnaround any inquiries and paperwork from the bank.  Could be two months, could be ten.

If ever making an offer on a short sale, always go in with your strongest offer and not with the intention to negotiate.  The process is way too long and with the current strength of the market, banks aren't going to take too much less than the current value of the home.

Hopefully your process is approaching the endpoint.

I believe 5% is arbitrary or part of their much larger context regarding diversification, as I frequently see figures like 5%-10% used when discussing the maximum amount of your portfolio that should be invested in any one stock, sector, asset, asset class, etc.

Another thing to realize as well is that followers of Dave Ramsey and followers of BP seemingly approach saving and investing in very different fashions but both can work and provide growth and financial stability based on the the person and their situation.

It's up to us to determine which school of thought, or combination of the two (or the countless others, for that matter) is the best fit for ourselves.

@Eric Sipe It is the current maximum annual contribution.  In my opinion, It is an amazing investment vehicle.  Too many positives to list here, but the key takeaway that may be of particular interest to you is that in some circumstances you can actually buy real estate with it as well.

If I were in the same position, I absolutely contribute the 6%, another $6,000 in a Roth IRA and the rest towards real estate. I'd never leave any employer match on the table. In your case, you essentially receive a 83% return on your investment almost instantly with future opportunity for capital appreciation and dividends. There are only so many RE investments that would have the same outcome.