All Forum Posts by: Jacob Trimble

So I've been having a hard time finding the right CPA. My current one is not working out. We currently have two properties in different states and are also doing a JV on a 24 unit. My current accountant wants $125 for each house we own to keep books on and also another $125 for the 24 unit. This doesn't account for the end of year taxes to be done which range from 750+. Is this normal costs for monthly bookkeeping? If so, is it worth it or should I spend that money and resources doing the majority of the bookkeeping myself using something like QuickBooks? Appreciate any and all advice and I hope that was put clear enough for everyone to understand.

Thanks,

Jake

Thank you @Rob King I appreciate the advice/insight. I will make sure to keep that in mind. 

@Duc Ong do you know of any of those properties here in Oahu?

So my current situation is that I am active duty military living in Hawaii with my wife who is an RN. We currently have two years left in Hawaii. We have one condo which we bought being rent out and we currently live in military housing. I am pondering the idea of buying a foreclosed home/duplex here in Hawaii that my wife and I could move into and fix up/sell the last year we are here. We bring in about 12k/month after taxes and will have all of our consumer debt paid off in July. I would not be interested in buying anything until February of next year that way my wife will have her two years of job experience and our lease will be up. Again, I appreciate any advice or criticism anyone has to give, it's all very helpful. 

Currently, I am looking to further my investments and begin investing in commercial real estate. My goal is to get into multifamily homes or apartments consisting of 12+ units. I am currently looking to invest in South Carolina (Summerville, North Charleston, etc.). I am curious as to what other investors look for when hiring attorney's, CPA's, and property managers? I am interested in long term relationships where I'm not just told things but also taught information. I'm also active duty military and move often so whoever it is will most likely be out of state as well (I currently live in Hawaii). I would greatly appreciate any and all advice on this subject. 

Hey, 

Thanks a lot for everyone's advice! As of now we decided to keep it. I called my insurance and made some adjustments and was able to get a lower premium and I also got a lot of requests for the property as a rental and was able to increase the rents. We have about 18 months until our capital gains window is up so we may still end up selling after the 1 year lease. Crazy side note, I called my lender about a question on my most recent statement which after that concluded ended up with me talking to someone about re-financing the property in SC. They offered to take me from 3.5% to 3.0% which I considered but since I was unsure about whether I was selling or not I decided to pass. However, I asked for a quote on our condo that we currently live in in HI which we bought for $435,000 at a 4.625% fixed rate and we ended up getting locked in at a 2.75% interest rate which decreased our monthly payment by almost $500! it'll only take us 23 months to recoup the cost to refinance and not only are we now saving that extra $500 but we also will be paying down $800 in principal a month instead of the $600 we were paying before. Anyway, I think that's a good deal. Again, thanks for the input and I'll make sure to post some more updates for anyone who's interested. 

Hey, 

So my agent got back to me and she said with repairs we could sell for high $260s and without repairs mid 250s. She estimated about 4k in repairs. 

If I keep it would you recommend me to refinance. I got an estimate to reduce my rate to a fixed rate of 3.0% which would only increase my principal back to $211,000 (which I would recoup back to the original amount in 23 months) and reduce my money payment by over $100? Appreciate any thoughts on that! And to clarify, the $100/month is what I'm making considering all expenses. 

thanks,

Jake

So I'll start off with the numbers with a home we purchased in Summerville SC. Purchase price: $217,500. Current principal: $204,000. Rent: $1,650. Mortgage: $1,216 We have lived in the home for two years and got orders to Hawaii. We purchased the home on 07/28/2016 which means, from my understanding we have approximately a year before we are out of the capital gains window. The home was built in 2013. The house is currently empty but has a lot of interest with potential renters. I believe this area will continue to grow and go up in value, however, I've heard people/agents saying we potentially headed for a down turn in the market. I self manage the property and after expenses I would say I clear about $100 month. I know it's not much but we put $0 down and have currently gotten a decent amount of equity in the property. I'm unsure if we should sell now and take the money to re-invest or let it ride out as a rental. Appreciate any insights in advance and let me know if any more information is needed to help figure out the best decision!

Thanks, 

Jake

Hello BiggerPockets readers, 

This may be a little long but I appreciate any input and or advice. Currently I work Active Duty in The USAF and am stationed in Hawaii. I will be here for the next 2 1/2 years. Currently, my wife and I own a rental in SC (This home cash flows about $250) and have bought a condo here in Honolulu (Both with VA loan). During 2020 my wife and I plan to pay off all debt except for the mortgages in an attempt to position ourselves the best way possible for future investment opportunities. Here's my question. We would like to move out of our condo and rent it out and move to on base housing for a year. We want to do this because we would like a backyard for our dogs and also housing there comes with central AC (our AC bill in the summer pushes $500 for a 791 SQFT condo). Renting it out would negative cash flow about $800 a month. However, if you consider appreciation and principal payoff (approx. $600 mo. currently) we would still be doing okay. The main reason I want to rent it out is so that we can show some rental history for this home when we try and obtain a new loan for an actual home here in Hawaii. We also need to wait before buying because my wife currently only has 1 year of work experience (She's a nurse) and so we need to wait until she has 2 before attempting to get approved for a loan. I would like to buy a home for upwards of $1 million in the early year of 2021, live in it approximately 1 to 2 years and then rent it out once we get stationed somewhere else or get out of the military. I've noticed so far, Hawaii is an appreciation game and not a cash flow one. That being said my wife and I make enough money to cover the negative hit we would take from not only the condo but also the other home we may purchase here. Currently we both net about 130k a year and that should go up in the next two years to around 180k. I understand cash flow is important but I believe if we hold onto these homes for 10+ years we could do really well. I left out some detail because I didn't want to make this super long but I am more so interested in the idea of buying and holding here in Hawaii with a negative cash flow in the long run to ideally come out ahead in appreciation of the property. Also, we would plan to buy the home with a VA as I understand they just recently lifted the amount of the VA loan to any amount a lender is willing to give. Anyway, let me know if I left anything out or something is unclear and I'll do my best to explain. I would appreciate any insight. Like I said during the next year we plan to pay off all debt, learn the market, and gain as much knowledge as we can during that time. We appreciate any help or advice in advance!

Thanks, 

Jake