All Forum Posts by: Patrick Liska

short of the long, NO. you must actively participate to claim real estate professional status, look up Brandon Hall CPA.,  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/... 

Post it on their door with pictures, have a witness with you and in the pictures along with the date, in case you need to evict you have proof you tried everything, you have the receipt for sending certified and that, the only thing left is to see if the police would be willing to deliver it, may be a fee from them to do that if they are willing too.

Marisa,

Do you currently have a connection point available for your tenants to connect their cable connection too? do you have connections in each room ready for them? in order for your tenants to have cable or internet there has to be a way for them to bring that to every room, wireless is not always the answer.

That said, you could always put in a clause that states that:  a tenant, visitor or any contractor shall not cause damage to any part of a structure by drilling, cutting or removing by any means possible any part of the structure of the property without written consent from the owner, or property manager.

This is a rental, unless you are in an area that is a higher end rental, I would keep the appliances white and save some money. will stainless steel make your rental rent faster than other rentals in town or do a lot of the other rentals have stainless steel? At one time Black was even less than white appliances, guess what went into my student rental that I was renovating, all Black appliances. as far as the tub, there is not a huge difference in price and again it depends on the area but will a tub even be used, why not change it to a shower?

who is it you are having trouble with the Contractor, Architect or the Town ? Most towns by me you still hand in physical sets of plans, it is not sent in electronically. If its the Architect, see if the Contractor will handle it, If its the Contractor then see if the Architect will handle it or at least send them to you to apply for the permit, If its the town, good luck. towns now a days are taking a long time to approve plans due to under staffing and the amount of people submitting plans, even though prices of materials have gone up the amount of permits submitted have gone up as well.

If your scope of work clearly states that his price includes Painting and laying down the LVP floor, then the Contractor needs to honor that as part of the $12,000 contract. He may have in there that he can hire sub contractors to do the work but unless it says that cost will be additional, it is included. you should give him a call and clear it up, ask them that question, are you charging me more or is this contractors proposal coming out of the $12,000 that was agreed to? Hard to tell you who is in the right with no contract to look at.

Jim,

There are a lot of different ways Investors can invest in real estate, I have not joined any Syndication or Joint adventures and they can be a lucrative way to make money in real estate as long as you can connect with the right people and hold a position that makes sure you get paid. as far as my holdings I look at it this way If the property makes money, great, you have extra money to hold in reserve for any major repairs, if it makes a lot of money then you have some money for your self. If you break even after expenses are paid then you are still making money by tax write offs and you have either future money (if mortgage gets paid down) and future money for whoever inherits the properties with the tenants paying the expenses. whether its a Syndication, joint adventure or houses it all comes down to knowing your numbers and where you stand at each adventure.

If you can build a new house for less then you can purchase one, then there is nothing wrong with that. The positive of building the house is that everything will be new and you can figure you may have about 15 years before you would have to replace any appliances and depending on the roof used about 30 years. The positive for purchasing a house is that you do not have to wait for the house to be built, and start collecting rent right away. so a new house you will be spending money while the house is getting built ( construction loan, taxes, insurance,utilities) until you can rent it. Purchased property you will start collecting rent which will cover your mortgage, taxes and insurance ( utilities if you pay, no utilities if tenant pays) but you may have maintenance issues that may have to be payed along the way.

Lily,

To answer your question, you will not be breaking any Clause by refinancing because you would be changing lenders and the original lender will be paid. Some loans come with an agreement in the terms of the loan that if they are paid off early that a certain percentage rate of the balance paid off is due to them. You may not have that in your FHA loan, but reading your loan agreement or talking to your current lender will tell you if that is in the agreement. As mentioned by others, if you can find a loan interest rate that is better and you eliminate the PMI insurance, a good thing to see if you can do is shorten the length of the loan if you end up paying the same amount you are paying now, you win with a shorter pay off time, less interest paid and equity gets built faster.

Lily,

you need to find out what interest rate and terms you can get to calculate if there is any savings. if it costs you the worst case scenario of $6,000 for the closing then that would be the equivalent of about 46 months of PMI insurance. If you can get your mortgage for equal to or less than what you are paying now, it may be worth it. I would also check to make sure that you loan agreement does not have a clause in it that if you pay off the loan early that you may owe the bank a certain percentage of interest.