All Forum Posts by: Gautam Venkatesan

Texas does not charge different rate for property taxes for out of state investors.

But our property taxes are higher than other states in terms of percentages. Here in Dallas for example the norm is around 3% of assessed value. Now on a $100K home the actual monies you spend on property tax are lower than the 1.5% property tax you pay on a standard $500k home in the Bay area...

@Kathleen Amundsen

Another option could be to rollover your company 401K account (after retirement) to an IRA account and then you could borrow funds from your IRA to purchase property. You will have to payback the IRA loan using the rental income it is not free money.

@Jon Klaus

I would look into private lending/notes/syndications with my 401K funds before purchasing real estate. You would have to get a non-recourse loan to borrow in the name of you 401K which would mean higher downpayment (30-40%), higher rates, balloon in 10-20 years, you would still have to pay tax on the financed percentage but you do not get the to use depreciation, interest deductions, etc. I would much rather prefer to borrow from my 401K to purchase property outside of the 401K. You can diversify between several notes to minimize the risk of any one not performing. I hope you share with us what you decide and why? It is a nice problem to have :)

There are several threads on BP that share experiences with turnkey properties. 

I would encourage you to spend some time reviewing the forums and setup keyword alerts for "turnkey"

@Mike McKinzie

 thanks for sharing your experiences. Curious did your PMs manage the rehab or did you establish trusted "boots on the ground" teams in all 6 areas yourself before purchasing in each area?

@Powell Chee

Banks usually require you to have 6 months reserves once you start to build a portfolio of rental properties and I think that makes sense ASSUMING you know for a fact the scope of repairs that were performed on the property you are considering. If you do not know the age of the HVAC, roof, and other big ticket items I would add those to your reserve too!

I would do both to diversify / mitigate the risk involved with any one investment.

What is the average days on market and final sales price for similar homes in the neighborhood? Since you are working with a realtor I would assume he/she would have priced it right. Have you asked the realtor why they think the house has few showing and no offers in 2 months? Has your realtor provided any feedback from the prospective buyers who did visit the property. I would try to determine the reasons before dropping price (assuming its priced right).

KC = Kansas City

Congrats @Dawn Anastasi hope you get the property!  Can you expound on how you plan to convert to a 3-bedroom?