All Forum Posts by: Grant Smith

 Appreciated insight here Dan. Section 8 here in Richmond has some pretty appealing rent and cash flow but I do think avoiding some of the challenges is worthwhile for the time being and my level of risk tolerance. This validates my interest in wanting to learn more creative financing.

Hey John, I haven't heavily considered pad split. I have only looked some at mid term rentals. What kind of clientel do you know of that utilizes pad split? And I am thinking seller financing might be the best route once I get a solid foundation of this strategy.

Lastly, what thoughts do you have on RVA and surrounding areas that are lower cost barrier to entry but less prone to high crime? I'm not convinced I want to be in the lowest cost area or manage section 8 properties at the moment. 

Hey @Peter W. I certainly wish the young kid house hack option was one that made much sense but currently not so much in the cards. With a wife and 5 month old I think we are a bit pickier about a roommate and the duplex options in Richmond are a bit lean and quite high priced. Not impossible. I have considered the primary route with low down payment. This is the first I've heard of only having to live in the property for 6 months vs 1 year. What institution offered this type of loan or is it still a feasible option to this day?

Hello all,

In my past year of experience networking in Richmond, VA and growing knowledge in REI I'm finding many investors in the area seem to be wholesaling and flipping in low barrier to entry areas (Petersburg, Hopewell, East End, south of the river along Hull St) and also running Air BnB's (yet legalities here seem to be a pain with recent changes).

What areas would be recommended for lower barrier to entry price point for long-term buy and hold? It seems that most lower cost areas I'm finding correlate pretty high with section 8 or higher crime stats. Getting started my goal is to have a first property that ideally has less headache potential.

Thanks!

Grant

Thanks again @Basit Siddiqi and @David M. for the info here - very helpful for a general guide on my first year.

 This is great David. Thanks for the clarity. I will look further in to the SchC. 

So to understand you correctly, the ability to write off any expenses is associated with a successful deal (wholesale deal, flip, or buy and hold) in that given year? Say I spend $3,000 in education and materials this year but don't have a deal work out - no write off ability? 

@Ali Boone - what about when it comes to tax write-offs? In what way would a new investor capture their depreciation or costs that are capable of being written off? In my mind I feel like you need an LLC or business to be able to write items off no (thinking depreciation, property management, any tools used like Stessa/Rentredi, or classes/conferences paid for as education). Would love any insight you have.

Hi all,

I'm taking action to flip my first property this year. And, I also intend to wholesale - both as a means of building up capital which will then be used towards buy and hold properties. With that I have already paid for courses such as a BP Bootcamp, mastermind groups and conferences, and plan to buy tools to support the business (computer, a monthly app for CRM/skip tracing and Google Voice number). I do not currently have a business set up. Yet, I am fully aware of tax benefits related to operating as a business. Is it worthwhile to go ahead and set up an LLC or business to capture these smaller costs I have already incurred and will incur this year (will be $3k or so? I fully get the tax benefits of larger-scale costs involved and their value and simply don't want to overlook the current, smaller costs if there is a reasonable benefit to tracking them.

Cheers,

Grant

Hey @Don Konipol this is exactly what I was looking for and got to validate in a group meeting last night.  Many thanks for the insights!