All Forum Posts by: Daniel Murphy

Quote from @Bailey Kramer:

2. Every Monday I check Pricelabs to see how my property is performing

Can you elaborate a bit more on this? What do you check, what do you look for & what is considered good / bad? 
I've been using price labs for a while but if I'm honest, I don't spend much time in there anymore.  I'd like to institute a weekly routine like yours. 

I've had this question in my head for a while and figured I'd finally ask it.  

Let's say you created a youtube channel for the purpose of creating a following & eventually making a profit. A DIY maker type channel. 

Could you do a renovation on your home, create a video & then deduct the rehab costs? 
Assuming of course that you continued to make videos in an attempt to build a profitable channel... 

Personally, I see this is an answer that changes over time. RE investors are a different breed. We're hands on, learners, risk takers. Most stock market "investors" are pretty hands off. They want to add money to a diversified portfolio & forget about it.  So your answer will likely change as you get deeper into RE investment & there is no "right" answer.  

But, here are some thoughts to make smart decisions.  

You'll want to at least save enough in your 401k (employer plan) to get their match. (the "free" money)

Next, do a rough calculation of your total taxable income.  Add up all your income for the family (use your Schedule E from last year to estimate the rental income).  Subtract your itemized or standard deduction and then google the 2023 tax brackets.  Let's say your number ends up at $180,000 which is just above the 22% tax bracket, slightly into the 24% tax bracket.  If you're creeping into a new tax bracket, it could make sense to add some extra money to your 401k to bring your taxable income back into a lower tax bracket.  - To clarify, this is not super common to be on the cusp of another bracket. 

Lastly, depending on your comfort level with risk & your timeline to next RE purchase, you could consider investing into a taxable account for a shorter perior of time. If the market goes up, you could have more money to leverage for the next home purchase.  

A timeframe of less than 6 months is extremely difficult to plan for "investment" wise. Your best bet is to keep the money in CD's.  You can find 3-6 month cd's with a 5+% yield.  

"Investing" the money over this short period of time, especially with a goal of buying properties soon, would not be the best move.  

Let's say your best case scenario of investing is a 10% gain. So now you have ~$39,600, but owe income taxes on the ~$3,600. Does that dramatically change your purchase plans? 
Or the worst case scenario is going down 10%, does this knock you out of a purchase? 

Investing = long term

Saving = short term,   Keep saving the money, enjoy the predictability & use it to plan your purchase. 

@Adam Sorrells, 

I live in MN and have a property in Cape.  I used Scott Waters at Accuspec, 239-935-9906

I found out at the inspection that Scott was my neighbor about 6 houses down.  I've met him every time I fly down & he is a top notch guy in every way.  I feel his inspection was great, his service was even better.  After the hurricane he even took the time to check my house out for me, send me pictures & help me out when I went down to clean up the property. 

Absolutely a full 5* recommendation for him. 

Stay away from the Ultraloq, I started with this one on my STR because it was all I could find during covid. The instant I left the property, it would not work and customer service was horrible.
I now have it on my home residence & it eats batteries monthly.  

Schlage encode continues to be the most common answer for the "best". Keep a few notes of wisdom...
Program 5-10 extra codes in. That way if it's every buggy & unresponsive (which absolutely will happen), you have emergency options.  If you give these codes out in an emergency, just delete them after use & replace with a new code.  
Do not let the locks get wet, they will fail.  
Lookup the FAQ on the Schlage website on batteries.  ONLY use premium alkaline (whatever they recommend on the site) for batteries.

Hey all, we get 95% of our bookings from Airbnb but our VRBO bookings seem to have fallen off of a cliff.  We rank well on Airbnb, how do we increase our ranking on VRBO? Are there any tips, blogs or videos to share? 

We're also pursuing direct bookings, I'd just like to boost the VRBO rankings also... 

I've follow Robuilt, sean razditch & the real estate robinsons on youtube. Great content. Robuilt is more for "overall STR" advice. Sean is deep in the weeds when you already have one.

I would suggest joining some facebook groups for STR hosts. A word of warning though, the only posts you will see are usually horrific problems. It may sour your taste for buying a rental. Realize though that many of these groups have tens of thousands of members who are not posting their highs, only their lows or where they are looking for help. But... it's a good indicator to see if that scares you away.
Find out what really scares you or where your barrier is, then learn everything you can about that.  With a STR, there's a lot to learn. 

How do you list your property, what software do you use, what pricing strategy do you use, where should you buy, what kind of furniture do you use, sheets, towels, how do you find a cleaner, how do you manage your cleaner, who will you use for hvac, handyman, plumbing, pool maintenance etc.  How do you track expenses, manage taxes.  The list goes on... 

It's really easy to get lost in the details but they all can be handled individually and over time.  

Understand that it's a long term game. You will make mistakes your first year but they get less as you get more experience.  Your first rental is the hardest, then it gets easier... 

Hey all, I've had some unexpected life updates and am considering selling our short term rental in Cape Coral FL. It's fully furnished for an STR & has a year plus of track record plus a rate in the low 3%.
What is the best course of action with this? List it with our agent down there & sell it furnished, or unfurnished? 
List it on various STR forums & try to bypass the agent? 
Consider alternate financing so a purchaser could keep the low rate? 

Hey all, I did a cost seg on my rental property last year & wrote off a bunch of bonus depreciation. Unfortunately, I'm facing an upcoming divorce & the easiest solution to my financial situation is to sell this rental.  Rather than pay hefty depreciation recapture tax, can I amend last years return to take less depreciation? 
Last year was the first year the rental was placed in service, so there would be no need to change the accounting method, just the total depreciation amount.