All Forum Posts by: Esta Ryder

So there are a lot of things going on here and it is not quite as simple as it seems.

*If the house is in her name, she has to qualify for the HELOC based on her income, not yours. Is she comfortable with that? Would she qualify?

*What happens when she passes away down the road?  Is your investment in the property protected?

*What if she doesn't want you making any improvements to "her" home? I see this a lot.

You might have answers to all of these things.   I just have no way of knowing based on what I read in a forum.  I would talk to an estate planner, a lender, and your grandmother just to make sure that everything is as you are hoping and there are no negative surprises. Hopefully, it is a super easy and succesful experience for you :)

You might think I am joking but I'm not.  If you want a job that will give you applicable skills that will help you if you become a Realtor, get a job as a server at a restaurant.  You will learn people skills, how to deal with difficult people (while most of your clients will be amazing people,there will always be some who aren't), what it is like to work long and crazy hours and how to think on your feet.  Every one of these skills is important in real estate. 

@Erik Michael Congrats on getting your RE license!  Time management is very important.  Track it so you know if you are really spending time on the things that matter.  Write your goals and step by step plan to achieve them.  Take great care of your clients.

Go with your gut. You can also pay a structural engineer to look at the property and get his opinion on the situation.  It isn't cheap but will be worth it if you need to have your gut confimed.

Hi!  This is a very exciting time for you!  The first thing I would do is have a plan for the next 1,3, and 5 years.  It should be written with goals and steps along the way.  It should list things like:  find a Realtor, read an investment book, get preapproved, etc and then plan it out.  That will help get you started and on the path to buying your first investment property :)

As a young married couple, we rented a very old farmhouse on a 50 acre farm in the middle of Amish country.  The carpet was probably 40 years old, matched nothing and was a dark green.  I asked the landlord to replace the carpet and the old brown paneling on the walls so it would be more updated and match our stuff.  She was gracious and did so.  Twelve months later we bought a house and moved- and she rented the house to a bunch of single guys who could care less about the carpet and paneling.  Moral of the story is don't replace the cabinets.

Sounds like a great investment!  Always nice when you can learn a lot along the way!  Good job!

This is wonderful how well this all worked out and sounds like it is great for your  mom too!  Nice work!

I'm sorry that your question has not been answered.  I'm assuming that you found the answer somewhere else during this time but just in case you didn't, I wanted to reply.  We asked our CPA about this a few years ago and he told us that the 1031 exchange had to be the exact same group with the same percentage of ownership.  I would definitely verify this with your accountant to make sure that things haven't changed as this was 7 years ago.

I would definitely not sell the house wtih the 2.5% fixed rate unles you have decided not to be a landlord anymore- and it sounds like that is not the case.    I am a little confused if the house you want to buy is an investment property or owner occupied.  Either way, you should rent.  There are a lot of unknowns starting out with a 1099.  With both of you now a 1099, your income may fluctuate a lot and may not be great to start with (which is why lenders require the two full years).  I would just rent.  Save money and get used to the adjustment of going from a W2 to a 1099.  Then in 12 months or so, reevalute and decide what to do then.