All Forum Posts by: Jonah Slove

@Brandy Luna congratulations on being able to save $30k.  That's a HUGE success.  That shows you have discipline and the ability to budget.  Both of those are skills you will need your entire investment career.  

Now, it sounds crazy to think that $30k isn't that much money.  I mean, it's a LOT of money but it does make some things challenging.  

So, what can you do with $30k?  You can buy your own primary home.  You can buy a multi-family primary home.  You can househack that home or just live in it for 1 year, and then buy another primary home a little later.  Not everybody can do this strategy...especially if you have kids, family, etc. but if you can, now you are buying with the help of a realtor, your home is inspected, you can negotiate with the seller on things, and you get the best rate you can find.  So, there are good things about going this route.

What else can you do? You can absolutely, most certainly flip....but you have to be really accurate on your math. When you flip you need to be within 5% of your ARV. You need to be within 10% of your rehab costs....and you do both of those steps BEFORE you make your offer.  The other thing you do before you make your offer is you find a hard money lender that will allow you to come out of pocket $0.  None of this "we lend 100% of the purchase and 80% of the rehab" stuff.  I mean, you can work with whomever you want to of course...but the way the rest of us do this is we find a lender that will allow $0 out of pocket.  Usually they lend 70% of the ARV (that's the math we want).  That way, if I can BUY and REHAB at 70% of the ARV...now I come out of pocket $0!  Ok, so you'll have to turn on the utilities and pay the monthly payments on the loan, etc.  But what I mean is to have no downpayment.  Admittedly, finding a property where you can get that math to work is hard...but so is everything real estate investing related.  I make about 100 offers to get 2 deals.  So, you might have to stick with it for a while.

And you can certainly partner with people too. I would only do this lastly though.  Well, at least not until you feel REALLY comfortable with someone. Like, you know them for a year or something. The best way to meet other investors is through local Real Estate Investing (REI) Groups. Try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Even facebook might have some good local groups for you.

I know I'm hitting these real quick but those are the concepts at least.  Hope all of that makes sense.  Thanks!

Since I have 2 daughters, I will chime in here with perhaps an unpopular take. Forgive me if my thoughts are off point. 

It has already been mentioned, and I agree, that this would come across better if your fiancé were the one asking for advice, since it’s her money. With the way this is being presented, it feels like you’re talking about her money as your money. You’re not married. You might be the greatest guy in the world with the greatest intentions, but if this were my daughter’s fiancé making this post, I would have significant concerns. She would be taking a massive unwise risk by doing this in a fiancé status. 

How about you guys get married, have a good honeymoon, get on the same page legally + financially, and then bring this back into discussion. Seems a bit rushed. Especially with times being so volatile and the fact that you haven’t tied the knot yet. Tons of people out there making huge financial house selling/buying decisions before getting married and getting burned.

IMHO she should not sell the townhouse.

HOLD HOLD HOLD. Your kids and grandkids will appreciate it.

1031x only DEFERS capital gains, while selling it within 3 years of last occupying it for 2 years, makes wither $250k or $500k TAX FREE.

Wow that's awesome. Normally I'd say keep but with the equity and rent you can sell. If you do make sure to reinvest into a good deal(s) and have enough for some taxes. 

@Jonah Slove, She will be the only person eligible for the primary residence deduction.  In order for you to qualify you would have had to have lived in it also for 2 out of the 5 years prior to sale.  Marriage ultimately doesn't really have that much to do with the qualifying other than establishing residency and what tax return the property is reported on.  It is your use.

But....  there is a great opportunity here.  She will only get $250K of profit tax-free.  But because it is also an investment property right now she can also 1031 the remainder.  

 $250K tax-free.  and defer the rest of the tax in a 1031 exchange.  

For sure need to sell and 1031 the proceeds into something else.

Spend some time dialing in where you want to park the money before you even list the townhouse for sale. The identification window on those 1031 exchanges goes by QUICK.

@Jonah Slove tell her to look into capital gains taxes and how much she can exclude if she lived in it for 2 out of the past 5 years.  Renting a $1.3million home is a terrible return.  She can certainly do better with other properties.