All Forum Posts by: Cristin Andrews

I have 95% of my primary residence paid off (200k equity) and am looking at a HELOC or Cash out Refi to invest in real estate and also thinking about paying off the remaining 5% with these funds so I only have one payment. I am a high income earner with no other debt so DTI is not an issue. I'm leaning towards HELOC as I anticipate drawing 50k chunks of money at a time but am concerned about rising interest rates and the variable nature of HELOC rates.

Also, I started a refinance a few years back when rates got really low and was told that because my divorce docs awarding me the house did not have the full and complete block address that my ex still had a claim to the property and would have to come to signing (amicable divorce so he was willing to do that). Things got busy and I never completed the refi. I’m not sure how his claim might come into play in this situation. Does anyone know steps I can take independently to remove him from the title? Can we just sign and file something somewhere? How do I determine the correct description for that document. The one in the divorce decree was taken directly from the property closing documents.   I bought the house on my own but he acquired right to it as we are in a community property state and we were married at the time of purchase. 

Given this situation does a HELOC or cash out refi make more sense?

I appreciate your input. 

Cristin

@Michael Plaks

Thank you for explaining things so clearly. Very helpful. 

@Tony Vizzari

Thanks for the suggestion - I will look into it

@Basit Siddiqi thank you for the input.

@Lance Lvovsky @Ashish Acharya

Thank you both for answering. Good news. 

Hello - newbie here,

I'm a single high income earner so have very limited tax benefits for real estate investing and know that I cannot become an IRS recognized real estate professional while I have my W2 job. I plan to retire in 6 years and will have a pension. Would I then be able to become an IRS recognized full time real estate professional at that time while I'm drawing the pension? (would be under 100K threshold)And if so, would I be able to deduct depreciation at that time which has been deferred from previous years?

Thanks in advance for your response.

@Ali Boone I was nervous when the first one left but now I’m ready to get some freedom back 😀

I appreciate all the advice here. Im trying to get my head around all of the numbers - taxes, depreciation, cash flow etc.

My house is paid off and I will be living in it still another year. I’m a project manager so always plan things well in advance. That’s why I’m trying to figure out what moves to make now to be ready a year from now. My thought is if I plan to retire in 6 years - my effective tax rate will be lower in retirement and my goal is maximum cash flow. I don’t know that a turn key property with a 25% down conventional loan could generate much in the way of cash flow in only 6 years. Then again I’m new to this so open to someone saying I’m completely wrong there.

@Jay Hinrichs thanks. The house is much too big for me to live in it alone 4 bedrooms, study, game room etc so I will need to either sell it or rent it. I’m wondering if a better idea is to sell it and put that cash into a few more properties?

@James Wise thank you

@Scott Passman

Thank you for the advice.