All Forum Posts by: Jules Semanchuk

Many thanks to you both!

@Brandon Hall Thank you for your response. I have been warned about S-Corp by a friend and after reading these posts I gather it's used when you are actively flipping houses (over $40k profit). I didn't realize filing for S-Election was the same, but it makes sense. While he was highly recommended by a friend, his calculations just seemed off.

Would you mind if I message or email you with my rental details. I'm looking for a new accountant and it sounds like he may not be it!

@Nicholas Aiola 

Thank you for your response and general offer to answer general questions! I would not consider myself a real estate professional and not sure it's the route he was thinking either. I may have clouded what he is proposing based on words I found while doing my own research. This is more direct wording from him..

His proposal for the LLC is as follows:

"..open a LLC in your name and file for a S-Election which allows you to take the income on a K1 and it is not subject to the self employment tax."

When I questioned how it would qualify for FEIE (since everything I read calls it passive income), he said "If you earn the rent through the business and have material participation then it’s considered active income for the income exclusion."

Does this sound more legit? Thank you again! While he came highly recommended from friends, I'm trying to verify things on my end.

On a quick side note.. reading earlier in this thread made me think there is no self employment tax on rental income. Is that true?

@Nicholas Aiola

I live abroad and spent less than 30 days in the US in 2017, thus qualifying for FEIE. My only income is a rental property located in the US. I'm working with a new tax account specifically for expats and he suggests starting an LLC for the property and through material participation it will be considered active income and thus eligible for exclusion. I have a property manager and I do put in a lot of work myself (as he is sometimes lacking), but I'm not sure it's enough to be considered active. Any thoughts on if this is the right way to go?

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately the cancellation fee is large but I agree that an attorney is the next step. He is claiming he allowed the early move in at the time of signing the lease and claims it was a negotiation so that they would sign the lease.

I'm assuming he is obligated to show me a copy of the lease when requested, correct? Is there anything specific I should look for to confirm that he didn't add this clause in after the lease was signed?

I turned my property over to a property management company this year since I was leaving the area. After a long search for tenants, we decided on a June lease start. I have been very prompt in my email responses with the company while the manager takes a week or more to respond. Frustrating but not worthy of firing. 

Then the property manager allowed the tenants to move things in a month before their lease began since they were moving out of the dorms and needed a place for their things. I was not asked or notified until after the fact. When I expressed my frustration and legality of the situation I sent a very upfront but unemotional email stating what he did was wrong and I wanted out of our contract.

Two weeks later he responded

"In the leasing and management agreement you abrogated the rights and responsibilities of tenancy to me. As part of negotiation with the Tenants prior to lease execution and acting in your best interest, I agreed to their request to move a few boxes to the vacant premises upon their required exit from the dormitory. My consent to this reasonable request is within my right to manage and negotiate leases."

I should have asked for a copy of the lease once it was signed so that I could read it over, but at this point do I have a legal standpoint to get out of our contract?

On a side note, he really pushed these tenants on me even though I was hesitant to agree to a lease that left the house empty for several more months. He stated they would be paying double rent through the summer, but really wanted this house so they agreed to begin in June instead of July. I have this in writing from the property manager, but now his writing states that they needed a place to put their things since they moved out of the dorms. Certainly two different stories. Any advice is appreciated!

After reading the forums on Bigger Pockets, I actually decided to go with Laminate.  Considering it will be a rental in the future, I think it is the right choice.  The durability of the sample was clear between laminate and bamboo.  Thanks for the input all!

Thank y'all for the responses.  I figured this would be the case, just wanted to check with others about any tricks that may speed us along.  Jules

Hello all,

I'm in the middle of my first home renovation.  I have decided on 12mm laminate flooring (pad attached) from Lumber Liquidators which requires a 3 day acclimation period.  My HVAC install date has been pushed and thus we are in crunch time for our move in date. Does anyone have experience with acclimating flooring in one house for two days and then moving it to another for the third day?  

A little background... Both spaces are currently empty.  House A, where we would move the flooring to be installed hasn't had AC in a couple of years (window units before).  House B where we would initially acclimate the flooring was rented until about a month ago.  The flooring would take about an hour to load, transport, and unload from House B to House A.

We are in humid South Carolina, in the dead of summer but the high temps are scheduled to be about 90 this week.. not sure about humidity.  Any thought would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!  - Jules

Thanks for sharing!  Why did you decide to glue down the floor instead of using the click system?  I tested it with a couple samples I took and it seems to work well.