All Forum Posts by: Carolyn Hodo

Hi @Hector Bilbao and @Basit Siddiqi, Yes I have considered selling the house, but our long term goal is to build up a few income-generating SFH or small multifamily rentals. I bought the house in 2012 for $131k and lived in it until summer 2018. I remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms and replaced the floors with vinyl plank. It's a nice 3/2 in a decent neighborhood, and because of those improvements and general appreciation in the area, I think it's now conservatively worth about $175-185k. It has a mortgage on it, low interest rate (3.5%), with monthly payment of $860 (including taxes & insurance). We have it rented now for $1450/month so pretty good cash flow. Because prices have gone up a lot since I bought that house, I think it's unlikely I'll be able to easily find many other rental properties with a similar cash flow - so that's why we are considering keeping it long term as a rental (and maybe tapping into the equity if I can find a bank that will lend on it as an investment property). That is just my current train of thought but I am welcome to other opinions! I know we still have about 3 years to sell it and still take advantage of the tax benefits. We definitely plan to use that exclusion if we end up slow-flipping the new house.

Thanks @Eamonn McElroy. That's correct, it is only my name on the title, mortgage note, insurance, and county tax. I plan to keep it in my name unless there is some (financial or legal) benefit to adding him.

So, as far as splitting income/expenses, I could argue that I am getting all the income and I just pay more toward the mortgage on the house that we co-own? Or is it a problem that the rent is deposited into a joint account with both our names? Is it a problem that we split expenses for the house that we currently live in together??

I'll work on finding a good CPA. I think it makes sense to have some sort of legal agreement in place too... does it make sense to meet with a CPA first, or a lawyer? Or doesn't matter?

Hi there, 7-year resident of Aggieland. Bryan is more friendly to AirBnb type rentals than College Station. There are several spots around now that offer park and ride to the games, so Bryan could still be good for gameday rentals. College Station has regulations as follows:

https://blog.cstx.gov/2013/08/14/whats-allowed-for...

The primary purpose for these restrictions is to maintain neighborhood integrity and ensure public safety, which are high priorities for many of our residents. Short-term rentals are limited to hotels and motels located in commercial zones. Renting out homes or single rooms – game day housing — is not permitted, unless the property owner remains on-site and operates as a registered bed and breakfast.

Bed and breakfasts (Code of Ordinances 12.6.5.C.2) are permitted in residential zones, but only under these circumstances:

• It must be part of the owner’s permanent residence.
• It must maintain a residential appearance.
• It must be the permanent residence of the proprietor.
• No more than four unrelated people can stay there overnight.

--

However, a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling might result in changes; CStat is apparently reviewing their rules: https://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Texas-Supreme-Co...

Also, I know people still rent out whole condos, etc in CStat - my family stayed in one for graduation last year. So, not sure how well-enforced it is (but I wouldn't 

We were hoping to find a SFH with a garage apartment or similar when we moved earlier this year, but it was challenging. We ended up buying a house in Southside district (great for gameday), and may end up fixing up the master suite with separate entrance for AirBnB on special weekends. Besides game days, there is also graduation and parent's weekend that are good days for airbnb. I'm still not sure about expected occupancy though - this year, for example, most of the home games are not big games - most of the big SEC games seem to be away games this year, so not sure how many spots will get booked.

Thanks for the responses so far! 

@Eamonn McElroy No, we will not be married by Jan 2019. 

@Carl Fischer He makes more W2 money (probably around $35k more for this year - I was a postdoc lol, just got a slightly better-paying job starting this month); he is just barely in the 24% bracket, while I am in the 22%. I also have some investment income - last year it was around $8k combined in capital gains, dividends, and interest income. He has joint custody of 2 children from previous marriage and I believe he gets to claim one of them on his taxes. I have student loans and will have interest from that to deduct (if I itemize??)

This is the first year that we have really commingled finances at all - last year we lived together in that old house, and he just paid me a certain amount for "rent" and bills. Now, the rent from that rental is deposited into a joint checking account and the rental income above the mortgage and percent saved for expenses goes straight toward the mortgage payment on the new house - so we basically split it, and split the rest of the mortgage, utilities, etc. We still have mostly separate accounts and credit cards, etc.

The general agreement between us is that we are in this together - splitting profits and expenses according to relative income or evenly (mine will soon be closer to his) moving forward, but not completely commingling all accounts just yet (I have a lot in investment accounts from an inheritance - I also have a lot of student loan debt). We hope to work toward financial freedom - building some real estate investments is part of that (also likely doing a live-in flip on the new house). I did put more into both fixing up the old house and down payment and remodel costs on the new house, because I had more money available in savings.

Fiance also has a small business - I believe it's in an S-corp now, that he usually does not take income from, but they did do a payout last year which he used as part of the down payment on the new house. He has a lawyer and a CPA that's he's used for that business, so we have talked about talking to them about the real estate stuff, but have not yet done so ($$$). In the past, I've always done my taxes myself with TurboTax and more recently TaxAct, because they have been pretty simple, but I know this year will be more complicated, and I don't even know anything about depreciation except that it's a thing I need to do.

Hi all,

This year, my fiancé and I bought and moved into a house, and started renting out the old house. The old house is in just my name (the new house is in both our names). Both our names are on the lease as the landlords for the old house. We will file taxes separately (as we're not yet married). We both have W-2 jobs. Does it make the most sense for just me to claim the rental income and deductions on my taxes, and to leave it off of his? We have talked about setting up some sort of legal partnership, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm just not sure where to start with this. I fully intend to consult with a CPA and/or lawyer, but thought I would see if I could get some general thoughts from here first.

Thanks!

Hi! I'm also in BCS and a veterinarian (research position at the vet school)! I'm new as well, though, so I don't have much to add - just excited to see another vet posting! I own a house in Bryan and am starting to look into live-in flip or rental investment options.

Hi Erin! My boyfriend and I are interested in getting started in real estate in the BCS market as well, and have been wondering exactly the same thing! We currently live in Bryan in a 3/2 single family home in a neighborhood that is slowing becoming more and more rentals; mostly they are in the $1100-$1400 range. Our initial plan is to purchase a second home, move there, maybe doing a live-in flip, while renting out the current place. Because I bought the current place in 2012 when prices were low, we should be able to cash flow nicely on that one, and get a feel for how difficult it is to rent out. However, looking at MLS postings for rental houses now, I can't figure out how anyone could make any money with the home price compared to published rent rates! We haven't been looking too hard for deals so far beyond the MLS, I'm guessing you would have to figure out how to buy a place below posted value or off MLS, but we haven't gotten that far.

Our realtor let me know that some of the new high-rises have been having trouble filling their units, but I have to imagine that there would still be decent a market for non-luxury, but nice updated housing in the area. It just seems like as @Charles Fletcher mentioned, that you can't count on rent increasing much from year to year. Just from a cursory look at rents posted in Zillow, most places I've looked at haven't appeared to have increased rents much for at least the last 5 years.