All Forum Posts by: Eleena de Lisser

When buying real estate, how much of a percentage cushion, if any, do you put in your estimates for property taxes? Yes, I know an investor looks at the current property tax rate for a locality, but I'm wondering if experienced investors add, for example, X% extra to cover increases in inflation, new county/city wide assessments, etc.

I live in Philly which last year did a reassessment of entire city. The property taxes on my personal residence jumped 35% this year. I shudder to think what an increase like that would do to rental property cash flow.

Would love to hear from seasoned real estate investors in the Northeast and other high property tax markets about how they deal with/budget for property tax spikes. Thank you.

I'm going to open a SDIRA and was wondering if I should create a LLC for the first real estate deal that will be paid for out of that account? Any advice?

(p.s. I live in Philadelphia, Pa, where there is a 4% realty transfer tax, so the the idea of buying something in my name and then transferring it later on into a LLC or a trust has a financial impact.)

Greg & Rudy, Thank you for the welcome to the forum.

@Greg Wake, no, I no longer own that condo. I sold it at just the right time, before a tax abatement expired, a condo assessment went into effect and another new condo development went up almost across the street. :)

@Rudy Gonzales thanks for the suggestion/reminder about the BP alerts. Will do.

Hi!

My name is Eleena and after almost two years of lurking, I've decided to finally create a user profile on this site.

I've attended real estate boot camps and webinars, joined the local REIA, read the books, listened to the Bigger Pockets and other RE podcasts, etc. Now it's time for me to finally take action.

Why the delay? Well, in 2012, I got hit with a series of unexpected, back-to-back major expenses related to my primary residence and that ate up a lot of my time, attention and capital to fix. I was so wiped out after that experience I needed 2013 to take a breather. Anyway, that's now in the past, and I want to make sure 2014 doesn't turn into the Year of Analysis Paralysis for me.

Experience

Other than (successfully) renting out a Brooklyn condo for a year that I was wise enough to have bought in a neighborhood just before it gentrified (NYC real estate appreciation is a beautiful thing), I have very little hands on real estate investing experience. I'd like to change that in 2014 and acquire 1 to 2 properties this year.

Real Estate Goals

To have financial freedom in 5 years through monthly cash flow generated by my properties. I have an exact $$ figure in mind, but I'll keep that to myself.

In terms of my real estate interests I'm most interested in multi-family, private money lending and buying notes.

Looking forward to getting to know more people in this robust online community and contributing to the Bigger Pockets community wherever I can. Thank you.