All Forum Posts by: Kenny Smith

@Varinder Kumar

I am not sure if my CPA would be able to help, but you could always ask!

I use Adam Ripperdan at Dark Horse CPA, darkhorse.cpa.  He did my cost seg last year, and is incredibly knowledgeable.  DM if you need his contact info.

Best of luck!

@Jim K.

great post!  We are still early on in our hopefully very long real estate journey, but I can't tell you how many stories we've had so far..

We recently had a flood in one of our property's basement, redid a bunch of drywall, and literally 2 days after it was completed, our basement flooded again in the exact same spot for another reason.  We had to replace all the drywall, again.  It was like a sick joke someone was playing on us.  Several months prior, that same house had a backup and sewage started to seep out of the toilet flooding the bathroom.

I could go on and on, but I would agree.  People don't know what is needed to make this successful or always saying "this is not what they signed up for".  In reality, what can happen, will happen, eventually. 

Every challenging event though, we've learned more and more and wouldn't be where we're at without those experiences.

@Tony Santos

Welcome to BiggerPockets! You have hit the JACKPOT of resources for real estate investors. You can literally find answers to all of your questions within the confines of this site. Some quick tips on accessing the best info from here..

1. Subscribe to the BiggerPockets Money and Rookie Podcasts

2. Attend the FREE WEBINARS

3. Attend a Meetup in your area/virtual meet ups

4. Purchase the Beginner Books: How to Invest in Real Estate, Set for Life

5. Peruse the forums, ask questions, and answer questions.

You'll be well on your way to your first deal in no time..

Best of Luck!

@Shawn Pottschmidt

I would recommend chatting with a CPA on that.  I am sure there is great information online, but ultimately, a professional CPA should be consulted in my opinion just to cover your basis.

Best of luck!

Kenny

@Ashley Barlow

That's a great question!  I would recommend calling airbnb and see what they can do to help.  I would be surprised if they couldn't do something to help.  I would figure they can simply add on a new host onto the account and delete the old one.

Best of luck, and let me know how it goes!

Kenny

@Beth Blankenbicker

Congrats on working on getting your next property!

So what you're asking is fairly broad and there is so much to look at when identifying a location to buy your next property in.  If it was me, I would look at the following..

1. Population growth

2. Job growth

3. Median home price

4. State property taxes

5. Average appreciation over the last 10 years

6. Based off all those numbers, what my cash on cash return would be, and net worth return on investment.

I hope this helps!

Best of luck,

Kenny

@Bobby Paquette

I think new builds are a great option these days!  If you work with their in house lenders as well, you're able to get way better rates than most traditional lenders.

I am all aboard house hacking, and specifically non-conforming duplexes.  Everyone needs a place to live, and why not do it in a creative way where you live in a portion of your home, and rent out the other.  

This market is all about being creative right now.  Those that are creative are finding the deals and getting ahead.  Those that are not, are sitting on the sidelines hoping a traditional deal falls in their lap.  You have to be willing to get outside your comfort zone right now, and try something new. Thats my take on it.

Best of luck!

Kenny

@Kathy Lowery

Definitely a valid concern for sure, but if the numbers are really good, I personally would not let that deter me from buying the place as long as the unit you're buying didn't have a smoker in it prior.

I live here in CO, and everyone smokes here (and not cigarettes).  At the end of the day, there are always going to be neighbors that do things you cannot control.  Loud dog, too many cars on the st, noisy parties, and the list goes on.

If we all discarded properties because of those reasons, we'd never buy a deal.  I say if the numbers work, go for it.  Also, if you didn't smell the smoke when you toured it, why do you think tenants will when they tour it to lease?

Best of luck!

Kenny

@Kathy Leach

Great question!  So it really just depends on what you're comfortable with and how the deal plays out.  If they are representing you in the deal, and the seller is on their own, I would think the realtor would charge anywhere from 2.5-3%, but could charge more.  They could also ask the seller to pay for that or split between the two of you.  Everything is up for negotiation.  

But, if you found the deal, and not the realtor, you could also look into working with an attorney to draw up the contracts and ensure no mistakes are made to save some money.  However, a lot of people think they can do it on their own, but having someone represent you and keep your fiduciary interest at heart can be smart if you're inexperienced with buying real estate.

Lastly, if the realtor finds the deal for you, they would likely not even show you the house without have an exclusive right to buy agreement in place.  Their finder fee essentially, but also representing you in the process.  So I guess it just really depends on the scenario as they will all be different.

Best of luck!

Kenny

@Angeli Ligad

I think they all can work, but you have to be super consistent with whatever method you choose. Personally, I don't call for deals, I cold call for my real estate agent business.  However, I do run across folks looking to sell their property off market at times.

I use a prospecting platform called RedX. They will pull the lists for you, sync your phone up to a dialer in which you can triple line dial (calling 3 numbers at once), and blow through A LOT of numbers. You can choose to pick different lead sources as well, expired listings, FRBO, FSBO, pre-foreclosures, and Geoleads. It is easy to do, efficient, and can hit the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time, in my opinion.

Again, everyone has their own method, but I'd give it a shot if you haven't tried it!

Best of luck,

Kenny