All Forum Posts by: Isaac Molina III

@Steve Hall How much is the max I can transfer?

I opened up an LLC recently to begin my trek on investing in real estate. Along with the business, I've acquired a good amount of capital via business credit cards.

Has anyone had any success converting their credit to cash? I’ve used a strategy called the balance transfer Strategy. I take a card that allows a high balance cash advance and I transfer the balance from another business credit card.

What are some other ways that you can think of to convert credit to cash? Other than using cash app that puts a cap on how much you can send/receive within a time frame.

Thank you Basit and Karen for your response. Again, my employer has gone to a different 401K with a different company. The 401K, through Fidelity, has had nothing contributed by neither me nor my employer since we switched over to Vanguard In January of this year.

But these insights are great! Getting a loan against the account sounds like a valid option. Never really thought about that. Also, rolling the vested balance over sounds like a great idea as well.

@Gerald Barron Take my advice with a grain of salt (small grain of salt) but I think it really does depend on what you desire out of the property. If the most important item is cash flow, then I don’t think lowering the rent would be good because you can always find new tenants. However, if a $200 a month loss is worth it to you for having a guaranteed 2 years of great tenants, then I would consider at least countering them or take their offer. If you’re having a return on investment still, then it’s still a win.

To Aaron, I appreciate the concern. I’ve considered the risks in this route. I really am trying to figure out my options. I’ve taken funds out of my retirement account before to make a down payment on my first home. You’re right about the taxes, because the taxes I paid initially on the withdrawal was not enough so I got flagged later on; a lesson learned. 

To Ray, that is correct; the account is employer matched, however, the employer no longer contributes to this account. Same goes for me, when I get paid, a portion of my salary contributes to a new 401K account that is employer matched. So the account in question has funds that are sitting idle. There have been no contributions since January of this year.

Hello fellow BP members. I would like to begin investing in rental properties in 2019. One way that I would like to start is to fully withdraw from my 401K. I have Fidelity and it is a custodian 401K. I want to, firstly, know if it is an option to fully withdraw from my account. Also, what are the options if that’s not the only way. Preface: my employer got bought out by another corporation and we now currently use a different 401K company. So we no longer contribute funds to Fidelity. Right now, my money is just sitting there. The reason I come here to ask this question is because when I go onto the website, it says that a full withdrawal is not currently available. I feel like, this is my money and I should be able to do what I want with it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

@Brian N Hey Brian, I am new to this and currently in the learning process so take my response with a grain of salt. I understand that it’s frustrating to have a property that doesn’t seem to be making you money, and the prospect of it costing you more money is heartbreaking. I would ask you to consider this, however: if you were to use the extra money you have from cash flow and invest it into your house, rather than short selling, you can continue renting it out till the market picks back up in your area. I’m sure your property will be worth more when the market picks back up. Just my thoughts.

@Pat L. Wow! Sounds like she was a lot to handle. I wonder if she had a record of being this way with other renters.

@Aaron Klatt No Way!!! That’s is insane!

I haven’t started investing in rental properties yet, but one of my steps towards my goal is to glean as much as possible from the seasoned pros here. I was reading Brandon Turner’s Book On Rental Properties and in Chapter 18 he said that there will be many things that would come up from tenants that are unexpected. One example he gave was that a tenant called him complaining about another tenant pointing a shotgun out of his bedroom window. That’s a bit extreme but I would like to know, what would you do if this were to happen? Also, what are some other unexpected situations have you encountered and what did you do about them?