All Forum Posts by: Charlene Placko

We bought a place about 2.5 hrs from us. 340k. Spent about 50k in the past six months to fix it up. Our mortgage is about 1600/mo on the 340k.  We could probably rent it for 2200 pretty easily.  I think I could sell it for 585k.  We were planning to flip it but are worried about taxes.  What are taxes on a flip?
We would love to keep it and I think a second might be the best option to pay off the repairs and lower the monthly payments (credit cards are getting maxed).  We got a great rate on our mortgage so mortgage gal thinks a second is best.   Then rent for a bit?  But I need to convince my partner it pencils out. Any ideas on options?  Worried the markets gonna slow down soon and it won’t appraise at 585k if we refi’d in a year... prices have shot up like crazy in the past six months!!  Also afraid we won’t ever be able to afford another place with the way property has shot through the roof here.   New at flipping and renting... 

 If you turned yours in and seller reviewed all offers at once (which is what usually happens nowadays), the offer that is “expired” could be extended quite easily if agent asks their agent. I think it would apply. 

And if you can't figure out MileIQ, Ummmm.... then you likely work for a competitor... it's a cinch to figure out and I've never had an issue with it and I am NOT a techie whatsoever.   I think it's expensive though.  $60 is not a cheap App IMHO and it'd be nice if they dropped the price.  But I drive over 20K miles/yr... so it's a big savings being able to track all those trips.

I am preparing my taxes right now and wanted to chime in even though this thread is a little old.  I have MileIQ and have had it a couple years now.  It is the best $60 I ever spent because it doesn't take ANY effort to track these important expenses now.  NONE.  I'm shocked how much I drive every year to be honest!!   But now I have this app it keeps track of everything for me so I don't need to remember anything.  I don't have to turn it on.  I don't even have to remember to classify my drives immediately, because it saves it all for me for when I do have time.  Then when I have time, I can go through each one and classify if it was personal, charity or business (or many other classifications).  There is a map and times attached to each drive, so you can remember what each drive was very easily!!!  I LOVE THIS APP!!  So, now for tax purposes, all I do is go to annual reports and click 2015.  It sends a nice little report to my email so I can print it out and give to my accountant!  (That took about 1 entire minute to have it sent and printed out by the way.)  So I'm a super happy camper. 

They do referrals on here as well, so feel free to use my name or any others on here who sing their praises! ;-)  You won't be disappointed!!!  

 Yes, this is true.  There are other options!   Thinking outside the box helps tremendously.  

I'm an Oregon Realtor and there are many homes that you just can't buy unless you have cash.  Banks won't lend on them for usually health and safety reasons.  So if you have the cash, that might be the only way you can purchase some properties.  There are options, like rehab loans, that can get you some rough properties and still not have to pay cash.  

I read in a real estate article somewhere, that Fridays are the best day to list a property... ;-) Not sure if this Friday would be best due to the holidays though?

Thank you Steven - that must be why. If they are charging rent for what they have to pay on the property (i.e. mortgage, taxes, HOAs) what would they have to do differently to be able to depreciate it? It's possible they are taking a mortgage interest deduction and I'm assuming you can't do both?

I'm new here and new to REI, but I'm curious what the tax laws are regarding depreciation in CA. I know someone who has a property in CA and they said they weren't able to depreciate anything. They have a CPA doing all their taxes but I'm not sure why this is. They're just keeping the place so their family member has someplace to live, but I'd think they'd be able to depreciate it somehow...? Or does this only happen when it's sold?

Thanks Rich for your response to my questions! I'm neither a duck nor beaver fan... although I enjoy the college excitement in town, but I'm more a Padres and Chargers fan!

I'm a newbie here, so please forgive me for asking dumb questions... I know they say no question is dumb, but believe me, I probably can find one to ask!! I do have some books coming I hope that will help to educate me more on RE investing. At least give me a basic foundation, but like someone else on BP said, that info doesn't give you a "map", it just gives you information. I guess a map would be helpful, a recipe so to speak, but every area is different. I can't see myself buying someplace too far away from where I live but I have to start somewhere. But I am interested in buying some rentals eventually to get me started.

When you are building, your goal is to turn around and sell. I understand that just fine of course. But when do you decide you will keep the property to rent out other than just not being able to sell it, or is that the only reason you'd rent it out? What makes you keep one property over another?

When you first started out buying all those properties, the 30 in Oregon, lets say, what were you looking for? Were you buying to fix and flip or were you buying to rent? If you were buying to rent, what is your criteria for a good rental?? How much over is a safe buffer for say repairs, etc.

Thanks for sharing your story. It's really very interesting!! And I might take a little drive down to Curtin and see what I find. Maybe I'll send you pics of what I find... :-)