All Forum Posts by: Kenneth Hynes

@Todd Maki

  I would run through Rental calculator as well.  Do you know what other expenses (utilities , insurance, PM) would be .  if each unit is ~ $1500  total rent would be $6K, which is well under 1%.   so initial screen I would pass.  Do you plan on managing yourself ?

Ken

@Seth C.

I still think CAPEX and maintenance would be above the NOI line anyway. NOI is what is left after you pay all your expenses minus the financing cost , so even if they classify it as CAPEX or maintenance it should still come off before NOI is computed .

for tax purposes they may handle each different , but that is more due to accounting 

Congrats @Jon Huber

 Question -  how did you determine that rents were below market seeing that you were out of the area ?  Rentometer ?  craigslist ?   other realtor offerings ?  and if you ntend to keep existing tenants , what is your strategy to get them to markets rates ?  there have been a couple of posts about this on BP already, just curious about your strategy . 

I have several SFR and lookng for my first MFR and looking at FLA market. Those are some of the questions i am researching when I am looking a properties

ken

How you looking to finance?  if you go 25/75, the mortgage payments will eat up all your cash flow .    

Here you go. @Tyler Flagg wrote some good posts about the VA loan

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/5720/blog_posts...

@Jeffrey Price

 Welcome to BP.    Good that you are starting your investing so early in your career.  Alot of fellow military are on here.  

BP is a great resource.  @Paul Timmins has alot of great tips above. As a new guy, I would be less worried about getting your RE license that reading up on REI in general.

 One tip that I picked up here is while you are starting out and saving money for your investments, start driving / visiting areas you would like to invest in so you get a feel for prices, rents , house conditions etc, and visit and look at lots of homes and open houses so your eye get used to looking at repairs / upgrades that are normal in a particular market. I really dont think you can look at too many properties, and the more you look, the more knowledge you will gain for that market.  was stationed in COS , so know that area.  It i a great area to be stationed.  havent been there in a couple of years so cant tell you  the recent investment climate though.  What alot us do is buy 1-2 places each location where we are stationed, and then by the 20 year mark we have a nice portfolio of properties to augment your retirement.  

There is also alot of good info on the VA loans . would search and read some posts abut that. had a link to a VA Loan hack posts that will try and fins

ken

@Brian Karlow

my thoughts , are you putting all the cash for repairs and down payment ? looks like a initial cash outlay of over $80k ( 133-100) + 50 K repairs plus 3 K closing = 86 K initial cash the first year (before landscaping and snow) is $505 x 12 = $6060 . cash on cash return is only 7%. is that good for your area ? think very small cash return for the initial investment. what si your CoC return on your other properties ?

BP Community  

I am researching how to handle my situation on my taxes. Background last year had some hail damage to one of my rental properties. PM looked at, called in estimator and said needed to repair / replace roof. Called insurance and they sent claims adjustor out there, said had to replace roof. Had the work down and filed a claim with my insurance company. In addition to the roof, there was some minor damage to other parts of the property (siding and painting) that I had handled as well. I received a settlement that covered the work on my roof minus my deductible ($750)

How do I handle this on my taxes? The new roof work was about 9.5 K and the other work was about 1500 or so, so the total invoice was ~ 11K, and I received a settlement from the insurance for $8800.

Reading IRS pubs 523 and 527 and previous forum posts, looks like I have to capitalize this expense. Is this this true even if I got a settlement? If I capitalize the new roof work, can I still deduct the other work as a current year expense? (I would assume so)

Do I capitalize the 9.5 K over 27.5 years as a separate deprecation or just add to the current cost basis of the house ?

If I capitalize, how do I handle / report the claim settlement of 8K? Is that reported as income ?

Thanks for any assistance or advice

@Elliot Smith

  How you gotten a chance to go inside the units and do a physical inspection  of everything or just  the outside?  Inital numbers are ok, but deferred maintenance can make this a deal killer

@Amy Shick

  Welcome to BP.   Do you have any other properties besides GA and olympia.  I am doing the same path, buying and renting out in each duty location.  I am currently at JBLM and live in Olympia :)  Do you manage your property here ose a local PM ?  Looking for a PM right now as I may move in the next 12 months.  Cyurrent other properties are in Fayetteville, Colorado Springs, Auguta GA and Luoisiana

There are a ton of great tips out there, including the ones by Brandon and Dmitiry above. The podcasts are great. One even focused on a REI investor that was investing while on Active Duty. James Vermillun I believe was the member

Again welcome to BP

Ken