All Forum Posts by: Christie Gahan

Quote from @Judy Parker:

IMHO she should not sell the townhouse.  And a pre-nup might be in order.

 I wish she was the one posting!  She needs a lawyer to walk her thru different scenarios.  If she is in a community property state half of that equity goes to him if they break up.  If this gal were my sister, I would say go to the lawyer and do what ever paper work to keep that money / property seperate.   If they break up, she is covered. If they stay together, he still benefits.  

 I would encourage her to have a balanced portfolio.  I would never want all of my net worth in one property or investment.

I worked for a lawyer and have seen some of these situations.  There are no winners.  The family is in Hell.  Absolute Hell.  Many times, there are no symptoms of mental illness until the child is an adult 18 - 25.  They have raised "normal, happy" children and do not see this coming. The future they have predicted for their family is blown up and probably won't get better.  For many people, these episodes are a way of life. ( There but for the Grace of God, go I.)

Absolutely, speak with your lawyer and follow that advice.  I am not giving you legal advice.

The police and emergency services will be involved.  You want them to be involved because that could be the only route where she gets help.

As she is over the age of 18, nobody can make her go to a Dr, get a diagnosis, take meds or go to therapy.  When she is having an episode, if she is a danger to herself or others, the police can take her to the hospital for a 3 day lockdown.  Hopefully, the patient can be stabilized a bit.  It is possible, but not guaranteed, that the hospital will be able to keep patient for a week.  To do this, the hospital is hiring lawyers and going to the courts for emergency orders.  Hopefully, while in hospital, someone will be able to convince patient to go into a treatment program.  If the patient chooses to not seek care, there is nothing anyone can do.  Generally, this whole cycle will repeat. This can go on for years.  ( This is a negative aspect of having civil rights.)

I'm not giving legal advice.  If it were me, I would consider reaching out to local police via non emergency phone. Simply, tell them that you are the owner of the property at this address and there have been some calls for emergency service. Tell them that you know this is a private family matter for them to handle.  Ask if, as the owner of the property, there is anything you can do to help them?  They will probably say No.  But, you will have established a connection that may be useful later. They should have your contact info, just in case.  This is a 3 min phone call.  They will not give you much info about what is happening so don't ask. 

If it were me, I would pay them to leave.  Tell the parents that you are getting complaints, etc.  Would they be better off with out shared walls?  If they would move, I would give them every dime of their deposit, kick in another $1,000 and pay for the moving van.  

Thank you. 

Quote from @Steve K.:

Seasonality is market-specific, but I imagine the holiday season is slow for retail buyers just about everywhere. We’ve bought most of our properties in December. You can find a good deal anytime of course, there’s just less competition this time of year and anyone selling now tends to be more motivated. We see a huge price pop every spring between February to June. Flippers here tend to buy in the fall and sell in the spring. In the last few years we’ve seen six figure appreciation per month between February and June, you could have bought a property in January and not done anything to it then resold it for multiple six-figure profit in June. That might not be the case every year though, there are many variable at play of course, but we do have consistent seasonality here. Most transactions happen between March and June, with a small second season in September. YMMV, I’m sure other markets are different like Florida where more people are probably there buying in the winter months. 

Steve K:  What price point is your market at?   Are you talking about a 10% swing?  30% swing?  My concern is that, it sounds easy. But, how much money are you keeping?  If you bought a house for $1m and sold it for $1.1m you would "make" $100k.  Then you have to subtract any finance costs, payments made, misc utilites, insurance etc.  Then you also pay the realtor.  Subtract $66k.  Your $100k profit is down to $20k or $25k.  Now on that ... you could be paying 10% state, 38% fed and 13% SSI ?   That cuts your profit in half. 
If you have a steady volume, this could be profitable.  But, how do you get to that kind of volume?  And, is this the market to try? 
If you are investing in a tax deferred account it would be better off.

Per the IRS web site ...

Capital gains and losses are classified as long-term or short term.
If you hold the asset for more than one year, your capital gain or loss is long-term. If you
hold the asset one year or less, your capital gain or loss is short-term.

I want to be Investor #3

Buy any time of the year.  Hold for at least one year and a day to qualify for Long Term Cap Gains.  Pay the least amount of tax possible and put the most money in my pockets.

I'd like to create a couple of lots out of an acre of land that I own.  The City is talking about requiring frontage improvements.

Does anyone have a rough cost estimate ?  Ex:  $x for 100 feet      They would want: sidewalk, water run off / gutters, lighting etc    

Does anyone have a rough cost estimate for running water/ sewer line or electrical?

I haven't done this before and the city planners seem to want to wheel and deal.  There attitude is, "If we give you something, what are you going to give us"?   I didn't really see that coming.  I thought that there were rules and you followed them and your plan was approved.  Silly Me.

Would you go for this deal if you were not related to any of these people?

Buy house for $680k.   Assume a non assumable loan of $250 @2.75% and give seller $400k.  This does not equal 680K.

I don't understand your ideas for a remodel.  Now you are talking about $450k.  Where did that come from?  

Please get some realtors out to Uncles house and get their opinions of what it would sell for in current condition and if it had the remodel.  This will give you a max budget for repairs, updates and remodels.

I want to be Investor #3

Buy any time of the year.  Hold for at least one year and a day to qualify for Long Term Cap Gains.  Pay the least amount of tax possible and put the most money in my pockets.

I love that you have goals!  I want to challenge you with that.  You want to own 30 doors.  How much income do you want?   The problem with thinking in "doors" is that it feels like you should just keep buying.  Buying more is not always the answer.  I would rather have 5 properties that cash flow $400 each ( $2k mo) then 40 properties that cash flow $50 mo.   Does that make sense?  Good Luck!

Be very careful with cost segregation studies.  Yes, you can save on taxes but when you sell you have to pay the money back!

I would call some realtors in Florida and ask about the current value. List it and get rid of it.  Pay your taxes on that sale.  Then pay off all the credit cards and create an emergency fund for your personal life and an emergency fund for the rentals.  I think your stress level will go down and you will be happier.