All Forum Posts by: Cody Kauzlarich

@Anders Rodland

If you're banking on rapid appreciation of the area then why new construction? Just buy a freshly remodeled house, sit on it for six months and turn it. Why is new construction the significant part of the equation? And will Austin still be appreciating at the same speed in 2-3 years?

@Nick SyWassink

You're able to secure 30 yrs @ 3% on this as an investment?

@Danielle Scott

If you finance your home in your name and then deed it to an LLC you can trigger your due on sale clause. So you would have to pay off your mortgage or roll it to a commercial loan and pay close to 5% interest and probably amortize over 20-25 yrs. Also, an LLC is a pass through entity, there are no additional tax advantages afforded to you by doing anything in an LLC.

@Steve Chan Every investment vehicle I utilize is tax advantaged. We invest through our 401k and get an employer match, we invest through an HSA and receive an employer contribution, we invest through a Roth IRA and we invest in mostly buy and hold RE. Notice how I said "through", you don't invest in a 401k/Roth/HSA, I invest in ETF's and index funds through those accounts. 401k and HSA decrease your current taxable income, Roth decreases your future taxable gains, and you should be aware of the numerous tax advantages of RE.

The point your trying to make of being in a higher tax bracket at retirement befuddles me. You should be positioning yourself to require almost no income to live once you're retired, your house is paid off, you're not investing into those multiple accounts, you have a fat HSA to cover medical expenses. You should have RE income and then you could subsidize with retirement accounts as necessary.

I'm going to diversify and I'm going to continue to invest in the stock market and in RE. So I'm going to take advantage of the tax benefits of what's offered to me. If you don't want to invest in the stock market, then no, you probably shouldn't worry about a 401k.

@Phillip Rosin

I'm a professional woodworker and would do cabinets to the ceiling and enclose the fridge. The biggest reason for enclosing the fridge is because I could then buy scratch and dent SS appliances and save as much as it cost to enclose the fridge. I can find appliances that have a crushed back corner or something for 65% off and hide it. And I would do granite, but we don't have a minimum charge and that tiny kitchen would cheap to do. Glass top stove for me is a no brainer. I would never do granite tile. You may not see a huge bump in rents, but you will see a drastic decline in vacancy, quality of tenant and pride in "rentership" resulting in better care of the property.

@Mike Paisley

Congrats, good position to be in. A good road map to follow is continue getting your employer match for the 401k, next would be to max your HSA. Its a triple tax advantaged account. I max my Roth IRA and choose to invest in real estate rather than maxing my 401k, but you can choose what is right for you. Great thing about 401k and HSA is they decrease your taxable income. Real estate can produce income and also has great tax advantages(along with other advantages). I would also suggest starting to look for a property to house hack immediately. Don't invest in gold or bitcoin. Don't be afraid to buy real estate unless the downpayment would require all of your reserves AND there's a possibility that if the current economic status would continue that you could lose your job.

@Austin Bauer I invest in stocks, but I would be hard pressed to invest in the company I work for. Not much diversity if I'm banking on the future performance of that company for both my investments and my paycheck. And why do you have to wait until this fall to buy the stock?

@Sean Sullivan that's coming from my bank. Its basically a HELOC attached to the investment property itself. Say you find something that needed major rehab that you could acquire for 80k, needs 70k rehab but the ARV per the appraiser is 200k; I can put like 10 down and secure the construction loan, the first draw would be to acquire the property and then I can take subsequent draws up to 160 to cover the rehab/holding costs. Then that same bank converts that construction loan(line of credit) to a mortgage once the rehab is completed.

@Sean Sullivan I'm able to do a construction loan on an existing property. I meet the appraiser at the property with my scope of work prepared and he appraises the property as if the work is done. I'm able to do 80% LTV on the ARV per the appraiser, pay interest only for 12 mo and then roll it to a conventional mortgage when the rehab is complete.

@George Griffeth one thing about realtors is that you will want them to refer buyers to you after closing but they will want to refer sellers to you so they can close. This means that they'll have a laundry list of honey-do items that were never accomplished but now need to be done by the end of the week. They'll expect you, their favorite contractor, to run over and get it taken care of, and serve as their handyman because they need someone licensed to sign off on it, and give them a receipt for work done. None of the jobs are big enough to sub out, so expect to be touching up paint, fixing flooring, adjusting downspouts, confirming that the stain on the drywall in the basement is black mold or actual water damage, etc. It can be a nightmare and always on their schedule, not yours.

Make sure you charge enough in the beginning because you will get a reputation for being "cheap" and then when you raise prices you won't get ANY work even if you're competitive, because they were expecting you to be the cheap one.