All Forum Posts by: Daniel Miller

So I've already gotten one surprise in this adventure... I discovered that dad's Living Trust becomes an irrevocable trust upon his death.  I've already gotten an EIN for the trust, but I'm really unclear on how I do his final taxes this year... the IRS site says I need to submit form 1041 for "trust-related income"... but what about the rest of his tax environment??  

I've been doing his tax returns for 9 years now; the tax elements in his accounts have been:
1. medical expenses (especially the $9300/month for assisted living facility)
2. rental income for renting out his house
3. income from pension, social security

4. everything else

In the past, he had a revocable Living Trust, and all tax issues were handled using 1040 and his SSN.
Does *everything* now go on the 1041, or do I have to do two separate tax returns??

Thank you both for your advice!!
Sadly, the excellent attorney who set up dad's trust, retired years ago; I've been trying to find another near us without success.  The attorney who set up *my* family trust, doesn't appear to do anything *EXCEPT* that, and hasn't been responding to my messages.

That's the only problem with Fremont, it seems to be a legal ghetto (though it's a great place to live!!).

Anyway, I'll do more searching now.  Fortunately, when it comes to IRAs, since I had Power of Attorney for dad's affairs, I already have a working relationship with most of them!!  That will help now... of course, first I need to get the Death Certificates in hand...

Hmmm... I have neither CPA nor Attorney; I've had no success finding a family attorney in the Fremont CA area...  I'll search for a CPA though.  Thank you for the suggestion, I haven't known *what* to search for !!

I am beneficiary on my father's living trust.  We are in California.

He just passed away today, so I'm beginning the process of transferring assets from his trust to my accounts (which is what the trust says I should do, since I am also successor trustee on that trust), once I get death certificates in hand. 

However, I'm unclear on exactly what I should with his house?
> do I just fill out some change-of-ownership form with the county?
> Are there any federal or IRS documents that I need to fill out for this process?
> I believe that when the property changes hands, that the 'cost basis' changes to its current market value;
do I understand this correctly?  Do I need to get the house re-appraised for this purpose?  Do I need to communicate anything to the county about this?
> I've been renting out his house for a number of years, to help pay his assisted-living costs;
y'all have helped me with that on a couple of occasions!  At tax time, I've been applying depreciation to the house; how does this affect my actions or calculations now?

And if there is somewhere else that is more appropriate for these questions, feel free to point me!
Thank you again for all your help over the years.

Dan Miller

Fremont, CA

I was charging $200 for the application deposit, a number which I *thought* I got from here, back in 2012.  I would likely charge much less now, probably $25/$35... but then when the amount is that small, I have to ask how much effort is it worth to collect it??

This issue (of how to collect this fee) became especially poignant this time around; when I tried to collect on the spot, people said "we're still looking at houses" and wouldn't pay on the spot.  ITM, I'm sending out applications via email, and collecting documents the same way - which was why I was leaning toward dropping this fee; collecting it was just awkward, and was not convinced that I was gaining much from it.

BTW, I *don't* have an office, or agent, or any such assistance.  I'm renting out my dad's house, he's in assisted living, and I live in Fremont, up to an hour's drive away depending on traffic!

Thank you for all the varied viewpoints, that what I look forward to find here!

One problem that I had, was confusing the different 'fees' and 'security deposits' and similar things that I found discussed on this forum.  It appears that I invented an additional fee out of the various comments that I read; the different possible... ummm... options are:

1. an up-front feet at application time, to ensure that applicant doesn't change their mind while I'm processing application.

2. a fee for running a background/credit check, such as via SmartMove.com

3. the actual 'security deposit', typically equal to one-month rent, more or less.

Item 2 I don't have to collect; it's handled automatically by SmartMove; this has worked pretty well, certainly no applicants have objected to it; this only comes in if I've already researched the prospect's application and data, and selected them as my current prospect. (I just wish that the SmartMove results gave a little more info than they do, but that's a separate topic)

Item 3 is no argument, that will always be required, at time of rental-contract signing.

It is item 1 that I was asking about, and thinking of dropping, in the original post.  When I was originally active on this forum, getting ready to rent my dad's house for the first time, in late 2012, I thought that many people were strongly recommending fee #1 as well as fee #2.  This time around, as far as I can tell, *nobody* is suggesting that.  The latter matches what I was feeling as well, and I'll just run with it for now, it seems to be working well.  Yes, I could end up researching someone, then have them say "oh, nevermind, I went elsewhere", but that really wouldn't be the end of the world, and it's quite rare, at least so far.

Hi @Mark B. and others!!

Okay, I understand what you're saying!!!  Sorry, I'm a bit dense sometimes...

Okay, I'll pull that in the future... I was trying to come up with a pre-screening letter, but saw multiple suggestions in emails (and articles) here, and had to do a bit of ad-libbing to put together one version.  I'll remove the employment entry in the future.  All I really care about, at the core, is (a) do you have enough income, (b) have you been reliable in money handling (as represented by credit score), and are there any other major surprises in your background (hopefully, addressed by SmartMove)...

Hi @bradley bogdan (don't know why I'm not getting the name options this time)... what do you see in my questions, that require California residency???  I just said "current permanent employment" ... or is that what you mean, that I shouldn't require documented employment??

One thing that I'm a little uncomfortable with, is the issue of Section 8 applicants... I had one applicant who was Section 8; she provide a letter of recommendation from her current landlord, and documented that the county paid $1875/month, and she provided $250 out of her other income... that isn't even *close* to my rent... I hope I'm not legally obligated to reduce my rent for Section 8 applicants; that would make the whole task impossible for me...

Actually, @Byron Bohlsen, I suspect that method wouldn't have worked at all for me, at least this time around... every one of the viewers (at least, the ones I was interested in) told me they had other houses to look at before they chose... although, perhaps that was a sign that they didn't like my house that much in the first place, though several indicated that they liked it alot...

Okay, maybe I've misunderstood what I've read here in the past, so let me then clarify.

I've been showing the house to anyone who passes the initial email requirements check.  At that time, if they want to apply, I tell them that I will email them an application, and encourage them to return all documents via email as well, to save postage and handling expenses.  I also inform them that if I am satisfied with their application and data, I will then perform a background/credit check via SmartMove.com, and that *that* process will cost them $35, non-refundable, but that I will only move on to that step if I am otherwise ready to rent to them.

However, I thought I had read here, many times, that many of you charge a refundable fee to accept and process an application; this is separate from the background check fee, which I don't even handle.  It is this refundable fee for processing the application, that I'm talking about skipping.... have I been misunderstanding what I read??

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Yeah, after more reading, I think I just confused the background/credit-check fee with a separate fee for processing the application itself.  that's cool... I'll just drop this pre-application fee, it was never necessary anyway.

It can be overwhelming, sometimes, reading all the inputs in this forum!!  y'all have so much experience, and there are many different suggests, all worded a little differently; I'm so grateful to you, but can get a little overwhelmed at times!!  and sometimes, I just read things that aren't really there...