All Forum Posts by: Henry J.

Are you managing the property yourself or through a PM? PM fee should be part of the expenses to write off against rent income. If you manage the property yourself, did you drive over to inspect the property? The mileage is an expense. Do you use your cell phone to conduct rental related business? How often and when and for what? You may be able to expense part of the cell phone bill. Did you purchase things to repair your property? Remember to document and include the mileage. Ask your CPA (hopefully it's someone who owns properties) to help you figure out what else you can categorize as business expense to write off against your rental income. It can be very aggressive as long as you understand / balance the risk of audit and tax penalty if you lose the audit.

You need to talk to a mortgage officer to figure out because I'm not sure how 3 attached town homes will be treated - either 1 triplex/loan or 3 homes/different loans . If it's considered a triplex, it should be considered a home purchase if you plan to live in it. should be the same for duplex but again, talk to the mortgage officer to get the details.

For the property itself I'm guessing it will be a tax loss this year when you include your depreciation and property related expenses (ie loan app, rehab, phone charges, travel, property tax, etc). If you are still tax positive (not sure if term is correct), check with your accountant to see what other business you can use against the property. Depending on your gross income level and how you manage your property, you may not be able to write off anything on your other income from the tax loss of your property. Definitely talk to your accountant about this. Happy holiday! Henry

Looks absolutely amazing. What is the price point you are selling this at?

Since this is your 1st investment property - I would post the question to the TK provider - and ask them to explain it in details. TK providers are 'supposed' to provide you the value and service when you buy. If they are not providing the value then I think it's a fair question to ask them. You should get a 2nd appraisal to see where it ends up. I would also check zillow as well and look around the area for recent sales to make your final decision. It all depends on what your goals are for the 1st property. Good luck!

Have you spoke to any fee based financial advisors? Hopefully I got the term right. You pay them a fixed fee for a consultation. This way you are not putting any assets under anyone but you still get a fair financial assessment / advise. Look around your area and ask around for referral. I feel that most financial planners will lead you to the stock market and related. They might allocate % into REIT funds to diversify. Like many before me posted, take your time to figure it out. Good luck!

Lots of people shared their opinion and experience and I only wished I knew of this site before I started investing in real estate.

A few things I didn't read (or maybe I missed) from all the great posts - 

What is your end goal and what is your risk tolerance level?  What other investments do you have and what types and how does real estate fit in the overall strategy?  How much involvement are you looking to put into it?  What is your time frame?  These questions will likely guide you to decide how you want to invest the $.  

If you are borrowing $ to buy real estate, make sure you save $ for cash reserves.  Based on 20% down $250K can get you $1.25M worth of properties - but you will need to have cash reserve for the properties in case of any unforeseen situation.

If you decide to go with turnkey investments, make sure you know what you're getting into and your exit strategy...  You can search the forums for some heated discussion on turnkey.  :)

Talk to your accountant / CPA and set up a spreadsheet to track your expenses if you decide to buy properties.  It's a great tax write-off strategy if you don't own a business.

Good luck!

Henry

Start checking your credit score and see if there is anything that's not right and get on a plan to fix them. Talk to a few mortgage brokers to see what you need to prepare for the paperwork. At the minimum - your bank statements (2 months), any mortgage statement with balance, HOA statement if any, 2 yrs of your complete tax return with w2,, all trading and retirement account statement (2 months), and 2 pay stubs, your SS card and maybe even your state ID. You can get some of these ready but it may be easier to get a check list from your broker... Your broker should be able to tell you the range you can afford as well, based on the number you give him/her. Good luck!

David - FYI on my work's 401K fee structure.  I think they send it to us either quarterly or yearly - can't remember.

Target Date Funds = pick the year you will likely retire and fund manager will balance the amount of stock vs. bond for you.

S&P 500 = index Standard and Poor 500 = index fund

Stable asset fund = savings account in my case = less than 1% interest.

Some companies have REIT as one of their options but we don't have it. :(

Good luck.

Henry

I'm curious what you are expecting on property tax increase for the area. My escort went up $150/month in a year - waiting for property tax statement to see. If the tax goes up that much, will you be able to increase enough rent to compensate?