All Forum Posts by: Chance Benjamin

Hello I am looking for a foundation company that will not break the bank. Doing a remodel in Hurst TX. Thanks!

@Yaldho Manoj Welcome to bigger pockets, there is so much information from podcasts to webinars to calculators ect. Learn as much as you can in the beginning and then try to narrow down what it is you want to be doing when it comes to real estate investing because there are so many avenues! Good luck in your journey and don't forget there are tons of resources and people here to help along the way! 

@James O. As others have advised I would be careful with using the MLS photos/ info from an area that you are not currently in. I am not sure if your local association board would be able to answer more of those questions or if you called a local board where your client/ friends are looking would be able to help.

Where are your client/ friends looking in AZ? I lived there for 24 years and know some amazing realtors there depending on where and what they are looking for. Also, I can help out in DFW as well depending on location and what they are looking for. I would love to know more about what you are looking for in an agent for your clients and I would be more than happy to send any contact info to you for the agents I know just send me a message. 

Good luck with everything!

@Holden McCord yes just learn as much as you can, bigger pockets is great and whatever other material you can get your hands on!

I am definitely no expert but I am always learning something new everyday, so reach out anytime and if there is something I can help with I would be glad to do so! 

@Holden McCord Awesome! Welcome to bigger pockets! I can relate with you on down sizing your expenses in order to save more and have a better debt to credit ratio, my husband and I sold back our $700 a month truck so we could make more investments.

One tip I would suggest to new investors is don’t think you need to know everything, make connections with other investors or other trades that can help you. But with this still do your due diligence and don’t solely relay on what others opinions.

I wish you the best in your journey and if I can help in anyway please send me a message!

@Roberto Lugo welcome to bigger pockets! Sounds like you have some great plans ahead of you! House hacking is awesome and definitely a simple way to first start out. Financially it can be easier as well since you are going to live there you could qualify for 3% down ( but also making sure the numbers make sense) Back when I was in college I decided to buy a home and rent the rooms out to my college friends and they paid my mortgage and now it is a rental property that I cash flow on. Now I’m looking for a multi family so I can hopefully do the same thing. I am in Arlington TX and if there is anything I can help you with I would be happy to!

Hello I’m looking for any suggestions for someone that deals with taxes for home owners/rental property in the DFW area. In the past my boyfriend and I have gone to places like H&R Block but are looking for someone that can be a little more detailed on our taxes and possibly give us tax advice for the upcoming years.

Below I will outline what we having going on with our taxes.

We are not married and all the properties have been owned together, so different properties could be claimed under either of us. We are unsure who should claim which ones.

For me I made just over $10,000 this year, left my job to invest in real estate and working on my real estate license.

He has a full time job and brings home $90k a year.

We have a rental in Arizona, it cash flows about $500 a month. We spent about $1500 getting the place ready for new tenants this year as well as a few minor repairs. When applying for a loan in the future for investment properties will the lender give us a hard time if for example I claim the rental and he is applying for the loan? (Will the lender not count the cash flow for him)

Sold our home in Irving with a profit of about $25,000. We owned the home about 6 months short of 2 years. We sold it since I’m not currently working and the home was too large for us (The numbers also didn’t work to keep it as a rental). Also could we avoid paying capital gains because we wanted out of the house since I left my job?

We bought a small condo in Arlington $70,000.

If anyone has any suggestion or could shed any light on our situation we would greatly appreciate it!

@Shamus Wheeler My boyfriend and I have self managed our first home into a rental for 3 years now. The rental is in Arizona and we now live in Texas, we are lucky to have family/friends in Arizona in case of an emergency. We have yet to use family and friend for any emergency, they will sometimes drive by the property and let us know if anything seems out of place. My biggest tips would be:

1- Find good tenants: We interview out tenants ourselves, we typically hold a open house for anyone that would like to rent the home and if anyone at the open house is interested in the application process we send it to them via email as well as a background check if they pass the application process. We have been happy with our tenants those far.

2- Home warranty: and I mean a good one. In Texas we do not like the home warranty we currently have (homechoice) but I can not say enough good things about Oneguard home warranty. We have probably used them 7-10 times in the past 3 years. I explain to the tenant we have home warranty so if there is any issues please report them to me as soon as possible. For example the tenant texts me the AC was not cooling properly. I call home warranty right then, home warranty has my tenants number and the reach out to the tenant to schedule a time. Tenant and home warranty report back to me on what the issue is and 9/10 it’s covered.

Maybe compare the costs of home warranty and the property management. Obviously once you grow more and have more properties you will need a better system. However, in the beginning it is nice to see what you would actually be paying a property management company to do. I also travel to AZ 2 times a year so that helps with checking on the property and what not.

@Chris Mason I am aware there are other options out there but I’m not sure if we will qualify for them. We also have a rental property out of state we bought with a conventional loan about 5 years ago and we didn’t put 20% down on that. We turned it into a rental and has been cash flowing for over 2 years, so I believe that should not count against us while applying for another loan. If you have any suggestion for a low down payment loan I can look into please let me know.

Looking for some advice, My boyfriend and I are trying to buy another home using an FHA loan. We bought a home with a FHA loan almost 2 years ago. We are not married but we own the home jointly. We would like to buy another home to live in and fix up without it being contingent on the sale of our current home (even though we still plan to sell it). So we are looking to be qualified for another FHA loan while still having the current FHA loan. I have read there are a few exceptions for a 2nd FHA loan and one could be, because we own the house jointly. We reached out to a broker and she gave us a straight NO without really listening to us. Any advice is helpful on the situation.