All Forum Posts by: Jesse Smith

Hopefully a tax professional can offer some perspective on this one.  

We are selling our primary residence and purchasing a new primary residence.  Unfortunately, or current residence has not yet sold.  Therefore, we will be liquidating shares of our Vanguard index funds (held in a general brokerage account) to make the down payment.  When our primary residence sells, we will use the proceeds to re-buy the index funds.

My question - I will be liquidating $65,000 from VTSAX and re-buying the same amount at some point during this year (once we get the funds from our home sale.)  Will I have to pay the capital gains tax on the $65,000 that I sell, or will my re-buy offset that sale?  

Thanks.

I purchased a lead test kit from Lowes to test for lead-based paint on the exterior of a property.  This one is badly in need of a strip & re-paint.  I know the process is significantly more intense if the current paint contains lead.

The kit I used is supposed to turn red in the presence of lead.  The tip of the tester stayed yellow, but there was some slight redness from the testing solution on the house.  Can any of you help me interpret this result?  All positive tests I've seen ARE BRIGHT red.  Thanks.

Images: http://imgur.com/gallery/TEqS4Tl

 That's what I was thinking.  Do you know any agencies specifically?  

I recently closed on a 3-unit rental property.  During the due diligence and loan application period, I had an insurance policy set up.  This was a "Rental Dwelling Policy" for a 3-unit rental property.  Escrow has been set up for this policy, which costs $1,188/yr.

AFTER closing and having new tenants move in, my insurance agent called and said that underwriting had rejected the policy.  He said they require him to write an "apartment building policy," which will now cost $3,200/yr.  That's a huge difference!  

Do I have any options here?

I'm setting up a single-family residence for multiple living units. I'd prefer not to install more breaker boxes and meters if I don't have to. 

I know it's possible to monitor usage for specific circuits using a few different device options.  The most popular seem to be ones that attach around the wires on the circuit breaker, allowing me to isolate the usage to circuits within each rental unit.  If I can determine precisely how much energy each living unit consumes, then I could pay the power bill and bill each tenant accordingly. 

Do any of you use this method?  If so, what specific device do you use to monitor the consumption?  An internet-connected device would be ideal, so I could monitor remotely.  Thanks!

@Jason Bott - Agreed!  It's so hard to know if I'm getting the right price, especially since the world of insurance is pretty opaque. 

Great info.  Thanks @John Mocker!  I've gotten another quote in from Farmers for $1,700, with better coverage than State Farm was offering.  I called another State Farm agent, and they seemed to have no problem with writing a rental dwelling policy for a 3- or 4-plex.  Insurance is strange...

I'm having trouble finding a straight answer on this one.  What kind of insurance should I be looking for on a 3-plex?  This is a former single family residence that has been converted to three living units.  I also plan to eventually convert the attached garage to a fourth unit.  

State Farm sent a quote for a "CMP Apartment Policy," with an annual premium of $3,898.  Compared to the policy on our duplex, which only has a premium of $1,120, this seems crazy high. 

• What kind of policy do I need for the property?
• Should I insure for full replacement cost, mortgage amount, or something else?
• What other considerations?

I just locked the following with B of A last week:

• 5.125%
• 30yr fixed
• zero points
• 800 credit score

During the negotiations, I was comparing B of A and Wells Fargo.  Both of them cancelled their initial offer, citing a jump in the 10-yr treasury rate.  I had to play them against each other to get the rate back to the original offer. 

I've been considering switching insurance carriers, because my rates with State Farm keep creeping slowly upward.  I contracted a friend who runs a local Farmer's Insurance Agency for some quotes.  After running my info, he responded with much higher rates than I expected to hear.  He explained that it seemed to be my "insurance score" that is causing the higher premiums.  This is an excerpt from his email:

Clearly, we're not competitive with what you're paying now. For what it's worth, it appears your "insurance score" (which, typically, closely mimics your credit score) is having a negative impact on the premium. Obviously, you have a great credit score. And, unfortunately, I don't have access to the factors that create the insurance score. I do know that Farmers separates clients into three tiers (Preferred, Standard & Non-Standard) based on their prior insurance habits and insurance score. For some reason, you guys are coming up as Non-Standard. 

I've been trying to figure out what would cause this.  We have only had two insurance claims in the past decade, and neither was remotely "frivolous."  

• Tree fell on a rental property roof
• Wife's car sustained $7,000 in hail damage, because employer won't pay for covered airport parking

Is this enough to make our premiums so much more expensive?  Is there a way to check/fix your insurance score, like a credit score?