All Forum Posts by: Jimmy S.

 How would it only cost me a few hundred? I would definitely do it for that.

I Talked to very many people, investors, lawyers and other fellow landlords.

Some say a LLC is a must and other says its a complete waste of money and a umbrella policy for 1 or 2 million is the way to go including a few attorneys.

If your a real estate investor most of your networth is in all your properties right? For me 80-90% of my networth is in all my rental properties so why do I need a LLC if they can only sue the LLC which is basically everything I own anyway.

Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated.

I have a question on the application that asks " Do you mind if I visit you at your current resident now" Yes or no.  I never had someone say no on the application but realistically they probably figure I will never ask.

When they turn the application in, its a perfect time to ask to visit them if I have any doubts or if they have pets to see if the house smells like pets or if it looked like they did not vacuum the floors in months or dishes piled up for weeks just in general see how they live before letting them move in and find this out 1 month after they moved in and its to late.

Does anyone actually go and visit prospective tenants at their current resident to see what kind of shape it is in and how well its taken care of? I started doing this if im not 100% sure about them. Some of them don't mind me going over and others look at me weird when I ask to visit them.

Did you ever visit a prospective tenant before and do you thinks it a good or bad idea?

When a potential tenant turns in a application how much of a deposit should I get? If accepted it will be applied to first month rent or how does everyone else do it?  I also don't charge a fee which I tend to believe I should.

I never use to get a deposit but I am finding that I am only hurting myself by allowing that tenant to continue to shop for homes while there application is under review.

Thanks

you should not have to if you have $0 balance.  I know the way they, underwriting qualifys you is to assume you will max it out and can afford that payment. 

this is off there website

https://www.fanniemae.com/content/guide/selling/b3/3.1/08.html

In order for the lender to determine qualifying rental income, the lender must determine whether or not the rental property was in service for the entire tax year or only a portion of the year. In some situations, the lender’s analysis may determine that using alternative rental income calculations or using lease agreements to calculate income are more appropriate methods for calculating the qualifying income from rental properties. This policy may be applied to refinances of a subject rental property or to other rental properties owned by the borrower.

If the borrower is able to document (per the table below) that the rental property was not in service the previous tax year, or was in service for only a portion of the previous tax year, the lender may determine qualifying rental income by using

• Schedule E income and expenses, and annualizing the income (or loss) calculation; or
• fully executed lease agreement(s) to determine the gross rental income to be used in the net rental income (or loss) calculation.

If ...

Then ...

the property was acquired during or subsequent to the most recent tax filing year, the lender must confirm the purchase date using the HUD-1 Settlement Statement or other documentation.

• If acquired during the year, Schedule E (Fair Rental Days) must confirm a partial year rental income and expenses (depending on when the unit was in service as a rental).
• If acquired after the last tax filing year, Schedule E will not reflect rental income or expenses for this property.

the rental property was out of service for an extended period,

• Schedule E will reflect the costs for renovation or rehabilitation as repair expenses. Additional documentation may be required to ensure that the expenses support a significant renovation that supports the amount of time that the rental property was out of service.
• Schedule E (Fair Rental Days) will confirm the number of days that the rental unit was in service, which must support the unit being out of service for all or a portion of the year.

the lender determines that some other situation warrants an exception to use a lease agreement, the lender must provide an explanation and justification in the loan file.

Long story short............. under my schedule e he put 365 days fair rental days when I purchased the property 8/20/14 and was really only like 120ish fair rental days. Now I cant use any of that income under Fannie Mays guidelines. I called my accountant right away when I found this out and he stated it had to be done that way because of new program or something the irs is using, taxes would not allocate properly or something. It has to say 365 fair rental days or I could not file my taxes properly. He tried explaining it to me but confused me.

Now my loan is falling though because they wont use that income and underwriters will not even look a the settlement sheet for poof that it is a glitch in the system... underwriter said to refile taxes and amend the return but loan is denied because of this and THIS HAPPENED 1 DAY BEFORE CLOSING after title work and appraisal is done.

 Just one check and only her name. He was not on it.

Should the check be made payable to everyone who signed the lease? Boyfriend and girlfriend signed the lease. When I return the security deposit should I make it payable to both of them or just either one?

thanks