All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi Everyone,

I'm in the first time process of accepting applicants for an apartment.  I have a question about the approval process for multiple tenants in one unit (husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, or roommates).

I'm definitely going to run a background check on each adult that lives in the unit, but what about income requirements?  Does each person have to meet the income requirements on their own or together?  My income requirements are 3X the monthly rate and the monthly rate is 600.  Does that mean each tenant has to make 1800/month or would you accept them if they made a combined 1800/month.

My concern would be what if one roommate decided to leave or the couple broke up?

Thanks for your responses!

-Joe

@Chris Clothier 

Thanks for sharing your personal experience.  I think your advice holds a great deal of value for my particular situation because of two reasons: 

1)  I'm 27 and will hopefully have many years of income generation from this house.

2) We're about 70 miles from DC, and the area around DC seems to be constantly developing and expanding.  There's an area between us and DC that used to be all farmland not too long ago.  Now that area is full of new housing developments, shopping, and dining and the real estate values have skyrocketed.  Who knows, our area might be next.

Good point about the PMI. I used a 5% Conventional with PMI. My plan was to get the house re-appraised after fixing it up in the hopes that I'd have 20% equity afterward. Using the equity or profit from the first house to get rid of PMI is something I'll definitely keep in mind.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice!  @Robert Leonard I forgot to mention it in my original post, but the tax advantage is one of the big reasons I am considering selling the house.  The tax break applies if you had lived in the house a total of 2 years of the 5 years prior to selling the house.  Doesn't that mean I could rent it out for 3 years and then sell it, as long as I have owned it a total of less than 5 years?  There isn't a rule that you have to live in it at the time you sell it is there? 

I am interested in buy and hold for the long term.  That being said, I may try to get my feet wet renting this house out and then sell it 3 years from now in order to fuel future investments.

Good point. I would only be delaying "dealing with the hassles of renting"

I have a question for you seasoned Investors.

We bought our first house 2 years ago - a really good deal on a foreclosure and we paid $84K. The same house was valuated at $135,00 from the outside only. Due to improvements inside and the shortage of houses in that price range in our area, I think I could sell it for around $140K. We bought a bigger house to move into, and I'm currenlty working on fixing it up before we move. My RE agent thinks I can get around $1000/month for rent and our mortgage payment (with escrows) is around $475.

What would you do? Would you take the profit and reinvest or go through the hassles of renting it out for the long haul? Or rent it out for a couple years and then sell?

Hi Everyone,

I have been browsing the forums here for several months and they have been extremely helpful as I start out in real estate investing. This is my first post.

I have a question relating to accounting/bookkeeping but I'm still in the process of finding an accountant to work with. Here is my 2 part question:

1) I recently bought some Lowe's gift cards at a discounted price. I bought several $100 gift cards for $90 each in anticipation of buying materials for the house that I'm about to rent out. If I went and bought $100 worth of materials with one of these gift cards, would I be able to expense $100 even though I only spent $90? The receipt would say that I spent $100, but it would also indicate that I used a gift card. How would I document this in Quickbooks?

2) I also have some Lowe's gift cards that were given to me as gifts. Am I allowed to deduct any business expenses that these are used for?

Thanks in advance,

Joe