All Forum Posts by: Cooper Marcus

I continue to look at MFR in Reno - I've got an LOI offer out right now, and if that falls through I think I have a backup property I'll make an offer on. Reno locals on this thread, I'll be pinging you next time I'm heading to Reno so we can chat over coffee :)

Try the various AirBnB analysis sites, like https://www.airdna.co/ (there are others I think)

I bought a 2-unit apartment building, remodeled it, converted it to condos, and sold them, back in 2002-2003 - I used https://jgutierrezlaw.com/ as my lawyer for the condo conversion - John was great!

“you can use excess (unused) deprecation from Property A to offset the tax liability of profits from Property B, or a flip, or W2 income from another source“

Using excess depreciation to offset tax liability from non-real estate income (like W2 or non-real estate 1099 income) is subject to some serious limitations (on income and deductions), so please be sure to research this topic carefully before you proceed. 

The content from https://www.therealestatecpa.com/ is excellent - I suggest you start there. 

Forgive me if this is obvious: A HELOC is a line of credit against which you can withdraw and repay money anytime for up to 10 or more years. A home equity loan, by contrast, is extended in full, once, (eg. you receive the full loan amount in cash, to do with what you will), then repaid on a fixed schedule.

HELOC rates float, but (in my understanding) home equity loan rates are typically fixed.

Given our historically low rates, I suggest your friend consider taking a home equity loan instead of using a HELOC. (Though that depends significantly on when your friend needs how much cash, and when they'll pay it back - if they need cash occasionally, and will pay it back occasionally, then a HELOC may be worthwhile, despite what might be higher interest rates).

One more idea: Consider a personal (unsecured) line of credit - it sounds like your friend may have the net worth / income to qualify for a decent-sized personal line of credit. Try Andrey Movsesyan at BBVA Compass (tell him I sent you, please)

I've identified ~50 properties in my target geography that I might like to buy - I asked my commercial real estate broker who typically reaches out to owners whose properties are not being actively marketed, and he said the broker does. However, I'm doubtful that my broker will want to, or will do a good job of, reaching out to all 50 of these owners.

From what I've learned of marketing directly to owners, I was imagining I'd do all the outreach, until such point at the owner was actively conversing with me about selling, at which point I'd start involving my broker.

How are commercial brokers typically involved in marketing to and sourcing sellers "at scale" like I'm describing here?

How about https://www.reonomy.com/ - I'm finding it helpful so far, though I'm just getting started.

Great post! I've been looking in this area and having little luck finding things - interesting to hear of your success going direct to sellers via letters - thanks for sharing!

Since I originally posted, I've learned the magic combination of Cost Segregation and Bonus Depreciation - that'll sure help! Any other techniques out there to "force" tax losses?

@Joseph A. Can you share your Google Form? 

I ended up deciding to use TSheets from Intuit https://www.tsheets.com/- it is working well for me!