All Forum Posts by: David O

Yeah, I would let him know in writing to take his crap out of the common areas. That's ridculous and would piss me off. Give him x amount of days to move his junk out of the common areas and give it to him in writing. Bet you can't wait until that lease is up.

I would get laminate or vinyl wood planks. It looks great, super easy to install, and most renters don't know the difference/don't care. I got some cheap ones from Home Depot for my rental for like 99 cents a square foot and they look great.

Yeah this sounds a little over the top. I would just check semi annually and maybe change the air filter. This gives you a reason to come and casually look around. I don't really see a need to thoroughly inspect the property every three months.

Not sure how to help unless you have any specific fears. If it makes you feel better try the tactic of only being the property manager and reporting to the owner (aka you). Some say its lying, but it's a common psychological tactic used in many facets of life. I don't see it as lying nor do I care. Saying I'm the property manager just makes life easier.

There are many ways to invest your money. It depends on your personality and risk tolerance. Me personally? I wouldn't rely on a pension. I hate working for anyone and I would hate to have to rely on a pension when I'm older.

As for the 20K a year for 20 properties situation...If you have 20 properties and only cash flow 20K a year (especially after several years) then something is wrong. I'd say that would be the low end of real estate investing.

What makes me excited about real estate is having a real tangible asset. I also like working with my hands (even though I'm a "white collar" worker). I plan to do most of the rehab on the units I purchase. There are so many ways to invest in real estate. I bought a tax auction property and plan to invest in many more. Once I have over 10 SFHs I may look to transition into something else.

Yes, and your CPA will compute depreciation (which is a tax expense only). This is a great beenfit becuase it is not a real tangible expense. More than likely, in this market, the property is actually apreciating in value. As a general rule, you can pretty much deduct everything related to the property, but your CPA will go over specifics.

Good point. That's probably the route I'll take.

Haha nice. I'm not too worried about it though. Once I get more properties I'll probably just get an umbrella liability policy.

I used to work as a tax accountant and saw lots of real estate partnerships and LLCs. We had a high wealth individual (>$1M) who had 100s of LLCs. He was in commercial real estate and every property had it's own LLC and one "master" LLC. It was quite a setup. He had multiple partners though and each property was pretty expensive. His accounting fees from us were through the roof, but he made so much money, and his situation was so complex that it made sense for him (imagine doing his personal tax return when he gets money from 100s of LLC.. what a nightmare).

I'm investing in SFHs and choosing not to do an LLC. I don't want to go through the hassle of doing LLC tax returns, filing annual reports, getting things switched over, etc.. It's easy, especially since I have experience, but I don't see the benefit of it currently.

Question for the people who choose not to go through an LLC. Do you still have/use a "business name"? One nice thing about LLCs is that it feels official. I feel like having a business name makes it legitmate to a certain extent.

I'd call him at the end of the week. Maybe he doesn't respond to texts. Not sure how old the tenant is, but if it was an older tenant I could see why he hasn't responded.