All Forum Posts by: Cathy Lippert

I stage the rental with a nice liner and curtain, but I only leave the liner behind.  It’s clearly outlined in my lease that any supplies or furnishings I leave are supplied as-is for the tenant’s convenience, and if they don’t care to use them, they can put them aside and return them.  The liner costs next to nothing, and it’s much better to supply one, properly tucked inside the walls of the tub, than to deal with puddles on the floor that could cause damage.  In doing so, hopefully I’ve given them a hint on how to care for the place. And so far, so good for the past few decades. 

P.S. I also leave a nice set of shower curtain rings that have separate sets of hooks for curtain and liner, which the tenant almost always leaves behind for the next resident.  Occasionally they get packed by mistake for the move, but it’s no biggie.

I try to use nothing except solid hardwood floors in my rentals (except for the tile in the bathrooms).  I'm happy with the performance in single family homes. 

Tenants (and buyers) favor it.  I doubt it makes any difference in the assessed value of the home, for equity / financing, but it does make the home more desirable to tenants and buyers especially IF you are in a B market or above, and it is done tastefully (no tiger stripes).  Hardwood certainly factors favorably into the capital expense figures, because it typically lasts a lifetime.

I have rented one of my houses for 20 years and the wood is still in acceptable condition. The oldest wood was originally installed in 1911. There was some 30-year old floor from when I purchased the house. And we put hardwood in the kitchen 10 years ago.  It's all still fine unless we get pets with nails scratching it up.  Occasionally we spot-sand.

We source hardwood as close the the woods as possible and usually manage to pay under $3/SF for the raw material plus staples and other supplies.  It's economical and beautiful if you purchase unfinished hardwood and install it without modern pre-finished microgrooves that trap dirt between the planks.  It will last a lifetime, and turns out to be cheaper than a lot of other surfaces, including most tile and carpet.  

My husband and I have learned how to install it.  We sand and finish new hardwood floors with a water-based polyurethane satin finish.  We can turn the house over to new tenants usually with just a good scrubbing.  

Hope this gives you some idea under what conditions hardwood may be "worth the investment"

I have a potential answer for you as to how a $0 sale price gets recorded, and followup question for the experts.  

I went through realtor and title agency to purchase a Freddie Mac home in Ohio as an owner occupant, and I bought the house through a normal transaction -- not inheritance etc.  The resulting county web site for my transaction shows $0 as the sale price because it is owner occupied, it is exempt and there was no conveyance fee and no mortgage.  I was told by the county transfer people that this is normal for my case, and possibly to my advantage because nosey people won't know what I paid.

My question is this: as an owner, is it to my advantage or disadvantage that the purchase price on the home shows as $0?  Should I try to convince the county with documentation to show the low price paid (to help support a low appraisal for RE tax purposes), or is it to my advantage to keep the sales price at $0 and keep future owners guessing that it might be worth much more (which it could become once I have lived in it a while and made it more desirable).  Making life even more interesting, there are no comps in my school system, and the Zillow Zestimate (no faith in it anyway) for this property is wildly high, as there is an exclusive development nearby. An appraiser will have a hard time.

Does the $0 sale price on the county website hurt me or help me as the property owner?

Yes, Jeff B. thanks. I'm re-reading the IRS tax code now.  I think you are right it will only count as an expense, prorated in 2017 during the rental period.  But I'm still confused about how to handle the real estate tax allocated to the vacant period between when we purchased or moved out to do the rehab, and when we place it into service. And ah, there is a point on that from Scott.  Thanks much to both of you.  I think I am on the right track now.

Hi, Forgive me if the answer was posted somewhere else (could not find it).  My husband and I own 4 houses, one of which is our primary residence as of Sept 15, 2016.  The one we moved out of is being prepared for rental. And the third one is also in rehab. Both of these houses will be rented in the spring.  (4th is already rented and not relevant to the discussion).   I am trying to decide which of the real estate taxes for the two rental houses in question I should pay before Dec 31.  At some point (after the houses are rented in 2017), those taxes will count as expenses for the rentals if I wait until January to pay them.  If I pay them this year, can I count them as property tax deductions on my personal income?  In essence, I need to decide whether to wait until January, or pay before Dec 31.  Please help!  Thanks!

Thanks for the pointers and introductions, all!

Hi, my husband and I are raltively new to RE investing, though we've rented out our primary residence when relocating, and have operated a rental property in another state (not concurrently).

Now I am shifting moonlight career interests to part-time RE investing, he's doing rehab, and we're reading everything in sight.   Wish I knew more about the fine points of purchasing REOs from auction sites (we are in the thick of one deal now that hasn't closed yet), and deed/title issues, which is likely the next shoe to drop in our process.

Thanks for the great advice I've already gathered, and more to come!  Someday we'll be able to return the favor as we get more experience.

A followup question to this post... In the Hudzu P&S -- non-negotiable by the way -- they only agree to provide insurable title, not marketable title. They appear to have no obligation to cure title defects, but only to show that someone (their own title company themselves, owned by the same parent) will insure me against them. I will be getting a Special Warranty deed.

1) Am I correct in understanding that if I get the proper title insurance (extended) to cover unrecorded leins and the like, my interest will be protected from clouds in the title that occurred prior to bank's foreclosure on the property?  WIll this be as good as getting a regualr Warranty Deed?

2) If I turn around and try to sell the property, I would expect the buyer to insist on a Warranty Deed from me the seller.  If I am only getting a Special Warranty Deed myself, would I be taking on extra risk by agreeing to provide a regular Warranty Deed to the buyer?

Thanks!

Hi, We're in the middle of the process with Hudzu, and we are relatively new investors -- our first time with significant rehab invovled.  Also our first time bidding on an auction site. A cash deal. We were not the top bidder, but they came back to "all bidders" by email to request best and final, requiring a minimum of 10K over what we'd bid already.  It was only possible to bid the extra 10K, or stick with our last bid (and presumably lose, as we were not highest).  We bit at the higher number, which was still (barely) justifiable for us, and they sent an email of acceptance, but only after the portal had indicated our bid had been rejected.  Good thing we didn't do another deal in the meantime!   My point is, they seem to be getting craftier, not only asking for best and final, but now they only allow you to enter a best and final if its very close to their desired amount!!  You don't even speak to a human being.  You get email with an invitation to enter a new bid on the site, and the site does not allow any bid between your bid and what they are requesting.  Perhaps this was what it took to meet the reserve price, who knows.  Or maybe we were in one of the few auctions that had other live bidders and we were second or third. This may be a new tactic, as I have not seen it in other posts.  Still thinking about how our bid strategy could have been different knowing what we know now.