All Forum Posts by: Jessica S.

I will be closing on a cash purchase for a fixer in 2013 which I will be flipping in 2014. How do I handle this tax-wise?

Is there any problem with deducting an expense incurred in 2013 on my 2014 return?

I would appreciate some clarification on this. Thanks

What type of investing are you hoping to do? $12k will go a lot further in Ohio than it will in Southern California.

Are you trying to match something existing? If the house is pre-1980's the ceiling tiles might contain asbestos. Please get them tested and/or take precautions if you work with them.

Very interesting to read, thanks for the recap. Glad you didn't have any disasters : )

Hi Bri,

Welcome! I'm new to Bigger Pockets also. I no longer live in Alameda County but I still own property there: 2 units in Berkeley and 2 in N. Oakland.

You really need local knowledge to answer this correctly as regulations vary from state to state. UST's are quite common here in Portland. I don't think most investors feel the need to avoid them.

I just flipped a house with one that was still in use. I took it out of service which cost about a grand. The soil test was $200 and it came back negative. Next time I will soil test BEFORE I buy : )

Gas wall heaters have limitations:

They don't work that well as a primary heat source because heat can't travel through closed doors.

The ones I've encountered have been pretty noisy

They can be a pain in rentals because tenants will call to have the pilots lit.

I've been using lending club for a little over a year. I think I'm running about a 9% return, but that reflects a bunch of newbie mistakes I made when I was first starting out. I don't consider it to be a serious investment. Instead, I use it as a distraction in order to prevent myself from messing around with my "real" portfolio. If your familiar with the phrase "casino money," that's what my Lending Club account is.

I would not recommend investing anything in Lending Club that you can't afford to lose.

It is fun, though.

Jean, my guess is that in this case gas and electric are provided by two separate companies.

My husband and I helped out friends who bought their house under similar circumstances. We all put in some long days and were able to get everything done on the list of repairs, which included painting the exterior. They got their loan and bought the house and the seller didn't have to lift a finger.

It was a gamble for them but it paid off.