All Forum Posts by: Joanna Mendoza

Asking for a friend. He is 54 years old and inherited approximately $550k net of taxes. The balance of his home mortgage is $550k with 6.5% APR. Would like to know which one you would choose and why(goal is to earn the most in 10 years time).

1. Invest the $550,000 in a mutual fund such as S&P 500 or VTSAX with a 10-year history average annual return of 12%

2. Pay the mortgage completely(I think he heard Dave Ramsey's advice that it is better to fully pay your house first before doing investments).

Thank you.

This is my first time browsing this forum. Please be patient with me. I am sure some of my questions have probably been answered before. 

My aunt purchased a property in Tucson Arizona with a single family house. The house will be vacant starting September 2024. She is based in the Philippines and plans to stay in the property every 2-3 years for only a couple of weeks. So technically the property will be empty most of the time. She wants me to help maintain the property. 

Since I will be maintaining her property, I am planning to offer her to convert it to an Airbnb rental and I will run it for her since I am based in Tucson, Arizona. Considering I will be maintaining the property (overseeing the construction so I can convert it to a multiplex, all the Airbnb needs including advertising and looking for customers), what would be a fair split? Or is there an acceptable or usual profit sharing for this kind of arrangement? I was thinking 65 (Mine)- 35 (Aunt). I am thinking this would be fair since she had no intentions to earn from it to start with.

Thank you

 Thanks Justin. What usually are justifiable reasons?

Hi, is there a minimum  amount of time we need to be residing in our home before we can rent it out and buy another one we can move into to qualify for the 5% down payment? 

Hi, it's me again. We bought a pre-construction house where we're moving to but that we intend to rent out after a few months. Which upgrades from the developer are worth it and which ones are to avoid? I know that the kitchen and master baths are important but not too familiar which upgrades are "musts". The neighborhood is also a bit upscale so my thought is that there's a certain level of expectation with the renters...

For example:

1. A kitchen with exhaust hood costs more...but is the exhaust hood worth it? 

2. As long as the island granite/quartz countertop blends well with an overall design, does it matter what color I get? Same with the cabinets. I personally avoid dark colors because I want a clean, bright look. However, the cleaner/lighter slabs,  are waaaay more expensive. 

3. The flooring- what rooms are ok to just have carpets? I prefer vinyl floor planks (I think this is what I have in my house) because my knees hurt with tiles. 

4. Soft closing cabinets- I feel that these save the cabinet's lives ...

5. For the 2nd bathroom, do I have to upgrade to a cultured marble or can i just do the basic?

Trying to keep our costs down as much as possible. 

Thank you so much in advance!

Jing

Thank you everyone!

Hi, we live in Arizona and we intend to rent out our house. Based from your experience, is it better to keep the pool or retire it? We want to keep the costs down and that includes the pool maintenance of $150/month. We found a company Coverdeck that covers/retires pools properly although we don't know the costs yet. Than you!

Thank you @Daniel! Are you also based in Tucson?