All Forum Posts by: Kyle Meyers

Yes. I would guess it goes on Schedule C so you will get to pay self employment taxes and income tax on your earnings. You can also deduct your business expenses.

You can't seize their federal return, but some states allow you to seize the state return. If they deposit the return in a bank account, you may be able to seize it then.

Uwe K. I think the file cabinet would work. I had considered that same thing myself. I ended up dedicating my desk to my rentals and when I need to do personal work, I take my laptop with me to the couch in the living room, so my desk, and filing cabinet area are my home office.

Steven Hamilton II and Charles Perkins, is there a requirement that anyone qualifying for a home office deduction must elect to take that deduction? I have heard the home office deduction greatly increases your chance of an audit, I only have a small area of my home dedicated to business use, so I don't benefit much from the deduction, but I do a lot of driving to my rentals which are a long drive away and I will be taking the mileage deduction. Can I take just the mileage and not the home office?

When I was sending via certified mail, I would also send a copy first class. I always got the certified copy back after a few weeks because no one would sign for it. Now I just send priority mail with delivery confirmation so I have the delivery confirmation form from the post office as proof of delivery.

I'm using credit cards to do a large rehab right now. You have to know the terms for each offer. There are no interest if paid in x months offers (all the home improvement stores offer these) and other cards offer low or no interest for x months when you open the card. If you don't pay off a balance on the no interest if paid cards, you have to pay the high rates from the purchase date. If you don't pay off the introductory rate card, they start charging you interest after the introductory period. You can also contact your credit card issuers and ask them about reducing your rate. And if you really want to play the credit card game, you can open a new balance transfer card each time a payment is due and keep bouncing around your debt.

I put OTR built in microwaves in my units. I would not provide a counter microwave. I try to make my units a little nicer so I attract better tenants faster and keep them longer. I try to buy the OTR microwaves on sale for ~$100.

I offer them to my tenants. I think it is a win-win, I charge much less than Rent-A-Center and they pay enough to cover normal repairs/maintenance.

I have my first several vacancies coming up in the next few weeks. I am not too worried, I have reserves I have been building up since I first started renting these places out and I have been advertising the units for a while and have some prospects lined up. If I did not have reserves I would be much more concerned.

You may be responsible for this repair. One property I bought the water company told me I needed to put in new meters inside and once the plumber was done with that work, the water company changed their mind and told me I had to replace the line from the street to the building and put in meters outside so they could access them. The water company did not pay for any of the work to install the line, patch the walkway we had to dig up, or patch the lawn.

I have some tax liens which will reach the end of their redemption periods in September and I will apply for the deeds at that time and likely take title in November. I have been through the process before, but not with occupied properties and I am wondering about contacting the residents ahead of time to talk with them about my plans for the properties.

Most of the properties I have liens on are non-owner occupied and I am actually hoping to keep the current tenants in place once I get title and just start collecting the rent. My worry is that they will see the notices the county is sending them about the tax lien and deed and may move out before I am the owner. If they move, I would have vacancy expenses and may need to make improvements which would not otherwise be needed so I can attract new tenants.

What would you do in this situation?