All Forum Posts by: Daniel Y.

 Capital gains is 1 year, but always check with your accountant for all the details. If you hit the two year mark of living it as your primary then no tax up to 250k of the property.

Also, Ken is right. With all the fees that you have to pay when you sell, say bye bye profits. FYI, usually 6% (3% to listing agent, 3% to buyer agent) and that whole 6% usually goes all to the seller.

Hey David,

Keep up the hard work and keep looking into different ways to build your finance security.

First, congrats on getting the pre-approval for the VA and/or FHA. The thing with those is that it has to be for residential (SFP to 4 unit) and owner-occupied. So even if you wanted to get a 5-unit and was planning on living in one, it would still fall under commercial and you would not be able to access the VA/FHA loan. If getting a multi-family property is your plan, you should keep that plan. However, maybe push back the plan for a while until you can raise money or figure out a way to raise money. Also, if you get a 2-4 unit, you can show the commercial lenders that you have experience operating rentals. A business plan is important in trying to get a commercial loan. They want to know that you can make money, so more importantly, you can pay them back.

Hope this helps, and thank you for your service.

Daniel

Hi Melissa,

I am just like you, being cautious and making sure everything is in order. Especially, which what I assume, would be stricter landlord laws in NY (your state) or CA (my state). So it would be good to make sure everything is function or some weird law comes out where it favors the tenant outlandishly (I am not familiar with the rental laws of NY).

My suggestion would be a blend of previous statements and our concerns. First, look up the brand, model, and year of the water heaters. Do some research and find out how long they can probably last from other consumers or professionals (not sellers, they will probably tell you to replace NOW), probably from people who live in your area or have the same kind of weather as your area. (I live in CA, so I don't know how cold affects the life span of the water heater.). Once you find out how long they can really last, use that bought time to shop around and find a great deal. Maybe when you buy in bulk you can get additional discounts. Buying when you don't have all the info, or when you know you are in trouble (water heater suddenly, and finally, gives out) always equals to overpaying in the long run.

Hope this helps.

Daniel

@Sean Yang

Hi Sean and welcome! I'm new here as well, but found some very helpful post so far. I read back on some of your previous post. First off, totally agree with you. The ROI, especially in SoCal is just terrible. The appreciation is still great, HOWEVER it still depends on the area. I personally would probably avoid that Temecula property. Probably a lower price, decent to good rental return, and the property probably looks really good. The issue is the property in that area doesn't appreciate as much as areas like where you and I are, next to water and cities were it is anchored with large companies to continue to provide jobs, which equals to staying where they are to pay you rent.

The Anaheim property does sound interesting. I live 30 minutes away from Anaheim, so it really depends on the area of Anaheim where you can get the most appreciation in the long run. Feel free to private message me and I'll be happy to help. Also, let me know about the SD and Tennessee, if you dive into that, scene. I am interested in investing in those area if there is a great opportunity.