All Forum Posts by: Jacob A.

Why is it a red flag when a prospective tenant offers a large payment upfront?

Was looking for a discussion on this topic, but most topics seem to discuss the reasons to give. I'm hoping to hear how people treat the following items for tithe purposes:

1. Depreciation on the building when you purchase it. I used to exclude that from tithe, but now wondering if it makes sense to include it as I include depreciation on renovations.

2. Prior year losses. So far I have not taken money out of a tithe account when there are losses, but since I give tithe on net profit from all my properties, does it make sense to reduce current year's profits by prior year losses as much as the IRS allows and pay tithe on the net profit?

Something that is making lean towards these, is that I can just look at my tax return and pay 10% of the profit per my return. If I ever die before my wife or mother, I know this will make things very simple for them.

How do you rekey the physical key everytime you change tenants?

It looks like they give only one copy of the control/master key which has the words "Do not duplicate" on it. I was able to get a duplicate from Home Depot, but the duplicate would not even get into the lock. I would have to get a locksmith to make copies and that is easily $100+. Does anyone use this lock and was there a simpler way of getting a duplicate? Why does Kwikset make it so difficult? The reason to get buy such a lock is for a landlord who owns multiple properties to have one key.

When you say you own the house free and clear, I get the impression that you don't have a mortgage on it and that your credit is decent. If so then does any of your credit cards have a balance transfer to checking account option? If so do that and then work on the HELOC.

I might be getting into a lease with an LLC owned by two individuals. This is the first time I would be doing a lease with any kind of business and wondering if anyone has experiences on doing such a lease. What are some clauses I could put in the lease to ensure I can sue the owners directly for non-payment of rent rather than the business? How do I keep verifying the mailing address of the owners in the event I need to serve them an eviction notice? They intend to house their staff, but when not occupied will be letting it out through AirBnb.

Anything to keep in mind?

Looking to replace a garage door motor at my house as well as at a rental property. Does anyone know of a garage door motor that can have multiple openers? I would like to buy a similar motor for both homes and would like to code my opener to open the rental house's door. The opener must also be able to open multiple doors. 

Bonus would be motors that are not very soft as some noise would help me know if someone is coming in. Also my primary house has two doors so have a remote with two buttons for each door. Does anyone here buy smart garage doors that can be remotely opened/closed? Eventually I would like to be able to show the house remotely to potential tenants/open house to service people/cleaners, so wondering whether to invest in a smart door.

I inherited a property in India and have been renting it out. Getting official documents is difficult and was wondering if you know of way to help calculate depreciation for properties abroad. Thanks again.

I would like to clarify my participation status. My wife and I are employed full-time at various companies. On the side, we jointly own some rental properties and manage it completely ourselves. We have never hired a property management company. We show houses to potential tenants, screen applications, run background checks, arrange for repairs, do evictions, etc. I own two houses with my mother who is also still working full-time. Do I qualify as active participants and can get use the $25K loss limitations against our W-2 income? My thinking is that I don't qualify as material participation, but as active participation and can deduct upto $25K of rental losses against our W-2 income. Correct? Thanks in advance.

If you have some reputable links preferably from the IRS, it would be much appreciated. 

Curious how other landlords try to set up a way for emergency access to your properties. I am thinking of situations where there is a bad tenant who changes locks without letting you know, changes garage door PINs, resets garage door openers, or adds deadbolt that is accessible from only inside the house.

Also for situations when temperatures drop too low and you need to access the house to open a faucet and the tenant is not at home.

I have added kwikset locks with the rekey feature and also with a second deadbolt that has another separate key. But I won't be able to unlock if the tenant locks the knob. Is it legal to put a knob that does not have a lock feature? I was looking into some ways to open the garage door easily. Thought of syncing my garage door opener with the tenant's door unit, but looks like there is a limit on how many doors I can code my opener to and a limit to how many remotes one door can have. Also noticed that the wireless keypads outside the door do not have the option for two PINS. If they could I could let the tenant choose one PIN and I could choose another.