All Forum Posts by: Chris Soignier

 Don't do that!   No deal is better than a bad deal!

@Rigo Medina, seller finance is a pretty big topic to cover via a couple of questions.   I have a deal right now under contract that I'm offering to wholesale (targeting investors) or seller finance (targeting owner occupants).    Yes, you can defer your gains via installment sale accounting, and it's good for passive income.

8 units are valued based on NOI and cap rates, while 4 plexes are valued based on comps. Net net, you can influence value more directly w/a 5+ unit property.

If your wife doesn't work, don't you only need to replace 1 income, or am I missing something?   Also, I'd be careful about assuming a steady 25% return on future purchases.   Sometimes home prices surge faster than rents, and you may not be able to sustain those returns on new acquisitions unless you want to own slum-like properties.

Most of my investing friends love MF. My suspicion is that you're not hanging around the right REI group. Network w/ local MF investors, and you'll get a much different perspective.

The IRS doesn't care if your depreciable assets are brand new or a century old - you get the same depreciation schedule upon acquisition.    Base is 27.5 years on houses (longer IIRC on commercial, but you can Google it as easy as I can).   There's also opportunity to do cost segregation and depreciate some items, like new carpeting, on a faster schedule.

You depreciate your cost basis, which to keep it simple is your cost plus subsequent capex less accumulated depreciation.    Note that I'm not a CPA, but know just enough about accounting to be dangerous.    ;)   

No - depreciation schedules start over whenever a property changes hand.

You don't get a home office deduction unless you claim one.   I personally opted not to claim one, b/c the potential downsides don't seem to be worth the tax savings to me.   YMMV.

As long as they're deeded separately and each one appraises for the allocated price you assign, I don't see why you couldn't use residential single family mortgages.

Lifestyles and having a personal coach/mentor are two different things, as I've hired both.    For Lifestyles' basic program, you're not getting any personal mentoring beyond whatever questions you can ask during class.   And nobody from there will hold you accountable.   That's not a knock on them, just the reality that $500-750 doesn't cover the costs of those services.

I've been toying around w/ the idea of offering coaching and mentoring.   Although being paid to fly around the country to help people in different markets sounds appealing, I've always advised others to buy local help, and believe mentees will generally have a better experience w/ someone who's immersed in their market and available to meet face to face regularly.   For this reason, I'd focus solely on my local market.