All Forum Posts by: Gail W.

I am getting nowhere when I Google or search on BP: "Renting to an LLC" or similar wording because all I get back is info on becoming an LLC if you own rental property.

What I'd like to know is, if I rent my house out to a company that is an LLC, does that make any difference? They will 1099 me. Specifically, will there be any tax ramifications? Do you get taxed more or less? Or does it have no bearing?

(Quick background info: this was our home of 15 years, we moved out to a rental and attempted to find a tenant, no one wanted it because it was a dump, we spent 7 months fixing it up (and lots of $$), we rented to a friend who has an LLC as a sober living biz, we are now for the 1st time having to do taxes in a new way)

Thanks all!

Not to change the subject, but do any of you pay quarterlies? I mean, are any of you making so much that your taxes are pretty hefty??

But what if we have owned the home since 2002 and lived in it til mid 2015? We moved out when we thought we had a renter, then it fell thru, then slab leaked, etc... Rented it May 2016. Does it matter that we didn't just buy it??

Oh I am, definitely! I'd just like to kinda have SOME idea of what's what since so many so-called experts have already given me conflicting information. I just called about 4 CPAs. So far, haven't received a ton of info. I'll have to go in with my stuff (half of which is gone). It's so hard to know which one's legit!

REALLY??  Ooooo!  I had some one else (a neighbor who's a CPA) tell me it was too late!

So if I add them to the Schedule E, with the date of work done (2015), I won't get flagged? 

OK. So we just could not afford our Laguna Hills, CA house anymore. The kids were gone, the electric bill was massive, the neighbors were awful...so we figured we'd rent it out and find something smaller/cheaper to rent. 

So mid 2015, we moved out and started to get it ready for renters. Then we had a flood from a slab leak, so we had to rehab the whole downstairs. Insurance paid about $22k and we pulled a HELOC for $70k to get everything repaired correctly. Insurance funds went toward floor, cabinets, counter tops (because the cabs were messed up and had to be ripped out, the counters cracked), some baseboard, some painting.

So we put it up for rent, but people would walk thru and never call or offer way less than going rate. So we started asking WHY? Cuz the rest of the place was a dump! NOTHING worked any more! So we then  painted the whole joint, repaired the rotted fascias, replaced the ancient AC/heater, new pool pump equipment, new concrete driveway to replace the crumbling asphalt, new landscape, updated bathrooms (resurfaced shower, nice, new cabinets/sinks, but off Craigslist), more new flooring extended throughout the entire house... even some upgraded pool furniture and a nice BBQ outdoor kitchen as we were told we are in a high end area that requires these types of amenities.  Took FOREVER! So now it's 2016...!  So I'm doing my own taxes Feb 2016 and asked a few CPAs if I can deduct any of this. No, as I didn't recv rent. So I just do my regular old taxes with hubby's income (I don't work).

Fast forward to mid 2016, we FINALLY rent the house out to a friend who is running a Christian Sober Living home and we're making some great money. Now, I'm sitting down to do my own taxes again (I've always used Turbo Tax) and start researching all of this. And, as most of you prolly already know, I find that I may have been able to do SOMETHING about all that dough we spent in 2015, even tho we didn't have a renter yet! SO... my question is, is there anything I can do about that NOW? Otherwise, we are getting a HUGE tax bill this year due to all that added income (I ran it as a regular rental w/ regular deductions so far).  I'm thinking I need a pro but I can't find all the receipts/paperwork due to half were lost in a car issue.

We are JUST starting to do OK (after having to pay off a TON of debt and still paying off previous federal and prop taxes-kids in So Cal are EXPENSIVE!). If we have to pay THIS huge tax bill, we may just sell and get out of Cali. I feel so lost and DONE.  A lesson to all you researching if you should rent that house out... learn as much as you can BEFORE you start spending any time or money!!

My adult daughters rent our home...the one they grew up in. We moved to a tiny house on a farm, but they wanted to stay, so we've allowed them and their college pals to rent it for years. They are now all successful adults and 1 is married. They both state they want to stay in the house forever...(BOTH want to own it one day-we'll let them fight that one out!)

The master bath is in the master bedroom that the eldest daughter rents (she pays double what the married daughter upstairs pays w/ a shared bath).  There was water damage from the bathroom up above and now there is a big hole in the ceiling above the shower, the pan is disgusting, the tiles are broken, the flooring is warped... it aint pretty! The shower will be converted to a bathtub as all of us girls LOVE baths. (As I MAY have to live in the house someday and that would be MY room again, I too desire a tub...but I do NOT want to live there any time soon...it would be an option only if a life altering event took place...my fall back). 

Right now, it is 60's white subway til in a size no longer made. The shower pan is an old worn out fiberglass job.  After ripping all of that out, we will need to decide if we go easy with an acrylic/fiberglass 3 pc tub surround OR the more difficult job of tiling the whole thing above the tub.

FACTS:  We have never tiled before. We can not afford a pro. We do have family that can give pointers, however, they are not pros, just DIY'ers.  We have no plans on SELLING this home any time soon. We have no plans of renting it out to "strangers".  We just remolded the kitchen (via an insurance covered slab leak incident) and I'm not thrilled with the way the kids are keeping it up...it's very high end; like a fool, I asked for the best of everything. My girls don't seem to be the best at housekeeping chores. It's all concrete slab. We will have to bust up the slab to install the new tub drain and fixtures. WE have a life; we run a small farm and travel.

I'm torn; do we just do a quick/easy surround that the eldest will be happy with and be able to maintain? And if we ever move in, redo it?  Or do we take the time and effort to do tile and hope she keeps it nice? 

We own a home that we are now accidental landlords on and we like it! So we got to thinking, HOW can we use the house to make more money? We refi'd and pulled out cash to fix it up, gaining higher rent. Even after pulling out cash, we still have decent equity. Great, but now what?  

I heard an ad on the radio for a business named EquityKey out of San Diego... they "share" in your future equity...and give you a percentage WITH OUT any monthly loan repayment. There is something on the website about recording the transaction at the County Recorders... I have not gone any further to get more info yet; I would have to enter all my info.  So what I see on the website is all I know so far.

Since we are still learning and not even sure if we can proceed with buying a 2nd rental property , we thought we'd check in here first regarding this new-to-us process of getting money out of the house. Anyone heard of this type of thing and is it safe?

Thanks all for clearing some things up for me. Helps to see it all spelled out. Let me clarify: The GC did the majority of the work and subbed out things like the counter tops or the electrical to crews they usually use. The millwork guy was over extended and could not take the job, so the GC had one of their guys do it, (but I think they still got the cabinets from the millwork guy and had them assembled at his shop-my guy thru the GC said he was assisting him with it since he was so backed up).  He has always been with them, but I believe in a different job description (in fact, the foreman retired about 3-4 weeks in and ALL the guys shifted around...they were very unhappy with having more responsibility with less pay). 

So I believe he was thrust into a position he didn't normally do and therefore dropped the ball on ALL the paper work. I wanted extras, yes. Like pull outs in the cabinets. I asked him to do the least expensive, coated wire types. There are now solid wood ones. I wanted a pull out lazy susan for a blind corner and, again, asked for the least expensive one. There is this complicated and deluxe system! I was never given the prices for these additions and figured he forgot about them as the job was not moving forward; so I forgot about the additions. And then one day there were cabinets in. It wasn't until weeks after that that I even knew those additions were inside! My renter sent me photos! 

It was the same with the cabinet choice; no prices or guidance-just pick one and get shot down. So when I found one where he didn't say too expensive, I figured I was in the budget! No paper work, no ballpark amounts, nothing. The stain guys came one day and made samples and I picked a color. No one told me it would be extra...

This is my first time EVER having someone other than family do work, so I had no idea about these "Change Orders". Those came later as the job progressed and we got to the painting and flooring. I have never had an insurance claim or used a hired contractor! What a learning curve!

My credit union is holding the checks until releases are signed and all that. I know they are great and I can call them and ask them for some guidance. I'm just not sure how to go about creating the laundry list of items I dispute on the final invoice. I guess just take them in order as they appear on the invoice and make my own.

Don't get me wrong; I am extremely thrilled that we got this "windfall" and the GC did a fabulous job and I liked all the guys, save this one. But I don't have an extra $10k laying around to give them for cabinets and items WE did on our own! (We are landlords by accident...long story, happy ending;)

Now...I have to start another thread about the interesting story with the 4 huge fish tanks we had to shuffle around endlessly thru-out this process...!

I had a slab leak in my rental home. The insurance adjuster and contractor he brought in were great! I couldn't believe how much would be covered; we would be getting a whole new kitchen and flooring thru out most of the house! And since my family rents from me, that would be very nice! 

Everyone was great UNTIL...the cabinet guy was over booked, so the contractor had one of his guys fill in. This guy was kind of rude, vague, flip. He gave me a catalog of cabinets to pick. I asked which were in my allowed budget? He never answered me until I'd pick one. Then he'd say, "That's way over your allowance". Finally, I picked one and he said it was "probably more inline with the budget". 

Now, all the other workers would give me "Change Order" forms describing the work and extra cost that I would have to pay for. Things like having them paint the other walls not involved in the slab leak or buying me more laminate for other rooms at their wholesale price. I never received a Change Order form from this guy. I only received an email from him with drawings of the cabinet layouts and measurements, asking me to approve it. 

Cut forward 4 months, job is complete. Foreman gives me the final invoice. I couldn't believe the overages for the cabinets!! $1500 over for the cabinet doors and $5500 over for the stain treatment!!  I would NEVER approve something like that!! I was shocked! (The foreman told me this guy was already in trouble for installing thick glass shelves in the glass front cabinets when it was supposed to be wood; he had to eat it on that. I offered to give them back-didn't even notice that "upgrade"! But it was custom). 

ALSO, there are things the insurance allowed for that were never done; cabinet knobs/pulls (none installed), dump runs (we did all that), a bedroom that was not even in the damage zone, a powder room they said they did, but we did the whole thing... So I want all that money to go to ME to either buy the items stated or reimburse me for the job WE did-not them! But they want me to sign the Certificate of Satisfaction to release the money my mortgage servicer received from the insurance company.  I'm thinking I should NOT do that...just not sure WHAT to do!  

What's my next move here? I stalled them and told them about all this and that I needed to review the invoice first...