All Forum Posts by: Craig McNally

If you want to meet up, it seems like there's a few of us here that would be willing to chat with you, but I don't have any leads on buying.

@Adam Cade have you moved to Blacksburg yet?  I'm curious if you've found a place.

There's all kinds of Airbnb ways to host.  It sounds like you're looking to set up a separate suite.  In my case, we just rent out the 2 extra bedrooms while we're at home.  I cook a nice breakfast, offer them a ride downtown for the football game, and they have their own bathroom to use, so its not particularly awkward in that regard.  There are plenty of other people that rent out their whole house for football and graduation, then go camping for the weekend to get out of the craziness in town.  If you want to make it a more ongoing routine, then yes, a separate suite would be preferred.

 We host Airbnb at our house for football games and graduation, and its really enjoyable.  Its been very short lived so far, but all the guests have been great.

Before mortgage rates dropped in the last two years, rental rates would just cover costs, so having a house in Blacksburg was more speculative--- relying on appreciation.  Rents have gone up since then and interest rates have come down.  In the case of this particular house we bought, we didn't bother looking at it until seeing how long it sat on the market, since offers have been so aggressive in the market overall.

I personally am not interested in student rentals.  Per room rates are higher, but I don't want to deal with the hassle.

@Adam Cade  I'm also in Blacksburg with one rental here and two in Radford.  I'd be happy to meet up with you whenever you come through the area.  The Blacksburg house was just purchased a month ago after sitting on the market here for 6 weeks-- pretty unheard of in the area, because it was in such poor shape cosmetically and asking price was too high.  We're currently working on it and plan to have it available for January.  Rentals in Blacksburg don't usually make financial sense, but this one seems to, particularly with mortgage rates so low, though I'm not valuing my labor in the calculation.

Cassandra, Did you ever go through with the housing program?  I recently got contacted by the office asking on behalf of a service member.  She has explained the program in detail and sent me a blank lease to review.  However, it would be nice to hear from a landlord's perspective how it all played out and any hiccups you've encountered.

Sorry I never updated.  After 2 days, I contacted Zillow (not sure how exactly, maybe clicked a link for reporting a problem) and got an email response in a few hours from someone apologizing for the slowness.  I immediately replied and it was fixed within minutes.  Posting went live and I was receiving inquiries shortly after.

I tried listing my house for sale FSBO on Zillow 2 days ago and haven't received their automated verification call that was supposed to come within a few minutes. Today I tried posting the ad again, and got the same screen saying the call should come in a few minutes, but nothing. Zillow also says it may take 3 days before the ad goes up. I wonder (hope) that maybe since I've already used Zillow to rent out other houses, that maybe they're just skipping the automated call--- that I'm already in the system and my ad will go live soon? Anyone else experience this and have advice for what to do?

Thanks for the reply Joe.  Can you elaborate on how that helps?  I suppose any repairs or improvements still count as an expense to reduce my tax income, and the mortgage interest is still deductible as well.  Otherwise, I'd probably be creating income or setting myself up to get taxed heavily in the future (maybe 20 years out) when we do sell the house.  This seems like it would be a pretty risky strategy, though it could work for the right person.  For reference, we're both in our mid-30's.

Hello, We're in the process of purchasing a single family house that my wife and I imagine ourselves living in a few years from now.  Looking through posts, everything I have seen deals with the tax implications of converting a rental to primary and then selling two years later.  I'm not interested in selling and am looking for advice on what we can do that would be advantageous before becoming our primary home.  For example----

1) The loan can be refinanced from an investment to primary, assuming interest stays this low.

2) All the repair and renovation work we do in the next few years will count as a business expense.

Is there anything else that can be done to offer a financial benefit?

Its likely we would also build a basement apartment and rent that out if we live in the main part of the house.