All Forum Posts by: Lisa Miller

Thanks @Dawn Anastasi for posting my stoves! Hope you all never have such nasty work ahead of you or filthy tenants, they were evicted. The Gable stove was curbed and revived by my mother and orange sol, industrial strength.

Thanks Dawn for your help posting the pics!

@Ryan M.

Check with your local hardware store or http://www.orange-sol.com/

They have a zip code locator and a phone # listed.

@Dawn Anastasi

Gable house stove is the one that was curbed and revived. I have the before pic and a bunch of pics of my mom's butt cleaning it. However none of the gleaming jewel. I will take that pic later this week and post it. Attached below are some others not curb worthy but awful filthy stoves I've tackled with Orange Sol. I put six pics on a power point page and saved it as a jpeg. Don't know if it will post big enough or if you can increase the size. Gable stove is on the power point and I'll attach it separately. :) It said both uploaded 100% but I don't see them... If they don't pop up we can do it via email.

Welcome @Roy McCuin

Hoorah! My brother and father were both Marines!

No more lurking around BP... Jump in with both feet. Everyone here is very helpful! Ask many questions to avoid mistakes but remember mistakes are just lessons learned. Sometimes free lessons, sometimes at the cost of college tuition, hopefully community vs Yale.

Fortunately Real Estate does not age discriminate and I'm sure when you were younger you had a higher level of responsibility protecting our country than you may ever need closing a deal. Maybe your past skills will be helpful if an eviction arises. I hope not, but just saying...

Bank as much mula as you can and get home safe and as quick as possible.

Welcome to BP!

@Gerald K.

The engineer's I worked with used a product called Citrus Clean in ship engine rooms for cleaning greasy things, so I imagine that is similar to Orange Sol.

Gerald, I had to double check to see if you were from my town because I worked on military ships and submarines. Orange Sol by the pallet. My friend who introduced it to me was the hazmat guy. He recently retired. A+ for ship cleaning products.

Washington is a Super Lien State allowing HOA's to lien and foreclose when dues are delinquent, sometimes ahead of mortgage position. Make sure to pay your HOA dues with as much priority as the mortgage payment. I only just learned about this and suggest you, everyone, research Super Lien States in reference to HOA's. I can't answer any of your questions but HOA's can be a nightmare if you or your potential tenant don't know what they contain/control.

Partial list of Super Lien States (I think there are 20 states now);
· Alabama
· Alaska
· Arizona *
· Colorado
· Connecticut
· District of Columbia
· Florida
· Massachusetts **
· Minnesota
· Nevada
· New Jersey
· New York *
· Pennsylvania
· Rhode Island
· Washington
· West Virginia

* Takes priority of all liens except first mortgage liens
** has priority over all other liens except municipal liens.

Welcome to BP! There is a lot of great Q&A on this site.

Read as much of it as you can!

I'm from Kitsap county and have been in Real Estate for many years and still learn something new every time I work a property.

You should read this current bigger pockets blog;

The Magic Five House Flipping Team Members... CPA one of the top 5!

I got the following example from Turbo Tax;

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Rental-Property/Real-Estate-Tax-and-Rental-Property/INF12039.html

All expenses you deduct must be ordinary and necessary, and not extravagant.

You can deduct the cost of travel to your rental property, if the primary purpose of the trip is to check on the property or perform tasks related to renting the property. If you mix business with pleasure, though, you're required to allocate the travel costs between deductible business expenses and nondeductible personal costs. Be careful not to cheat yourself on the breakdown.

Consider this example: John, who lives in North Carolina and loves to ski, owns a rental condo in Park City, Utah, which he visits each January to get the place ready for that season's tenants. His travel expenses are deductible if, for example, the primary purpose of his trip is to clean and paint the unit. Let's say that during a five-day visit to the condo, John spends three days cleaning and painting and two days skiing. Some advisors would say he gets to deduct 60 percent of his travel costs, since 60 percent of the time was spent on the business of tending to his rental unit.

But following that advice would be a costly mistake. Since the primary purpose of the trip is business, the full cost of transportation to and from Park City is deductible. It's the costs while there that need to be allocated between business and personal expenses. Sixty percent of the cost of a rental car would be deductible, for example, plus the cost of meals during the three business days. (Another tax law restriction limits your deduction for business meals to 50% of the cost.)

Now, if John spent three days skiing and two days working on the condo, none of his travel expenses would be deductible, although the direct costs of working on the condo (the cost of paint and cleaning supplies, etc.) would be deductible rental expenses.

Keep good records. To deduct any expense, you must be able to document the write-off. So hold on to all receipts, cancelled checks and bank statements.

Please verify all information with your CPA as tax laws change daily. It doesn't appear that Visiting your property would be as deductible as Showing, Inspecting, Improving, Interviewing, etc. Changing the verbiage/Action allows more possibility of deductions. I hope it helps.

Ok guys, here are many years worth of scrubbing experience reduced to one product that hardly requires more than a swipe to remove grease leaving all the paint on the walls. I haven't used it on flat paint.

Orange Sol... Citrus cleaner degreaser concentrate. and

Orange Sol... Multi use solvent.

I use industrial strength for huge jobs like the stove and the degreaser for the wall behind it. I spray it on let it sit for a minute or two and wipe. I may have to do this twice or let it sit longer than a couple minutes. Then wipe it away. Use a clean cloth/paper towel for each wipe and the job is done. Smells good too.

I had a stove, in a rental, that I put at the end of the driveway to recycle. It was the most filthy appliance I had ever seen. I didn't want to touch it. A friend turned me on to Orange Sol and my Mom, a thrifting recycler, said she would give it a try and did she ever. That stove looked bran new in less than an hour. That may make the job not sound so bad but it was, I have pictures! It was unbelievable! The stove was returned to the house as the best and shiniest appliance with a wall behind it just as good. I use this cleaner for everything!

@KarenMargrave I was writing about when you first learn of the available property or when you find an area you would like to know more. You can go to your county records online and find the plat maps. I usually do this first so I get an idea of the lot size, shape, tax value, zoning, what's around it and who owns it. They are all on the assessors map.

Where I may have made it confusing is that the map may have lots titled as Unknown. Usually very old alleys and roadways that were never developed, chopped up by sections sold to neighboring property owners years ago. Also sections of land under survey correction. I have a power point diagram explaining a lot and all the crazy 'unknown' lines around it but I can't attach it here. And yes that is labeled 'Unknown' by the county. Keep in mind this is the county assessors map not the survey.

When I find what I want I dig for more information, I definitely pull the survey map and walk the land with that. The assessors map is to fill my initial curiosity.

Last year I had my once every 10 year security check. Where I work, people in debt are a high risk... $895k in debt... I had a lot of explaining to do because my day job could never support that let alone living expenses. Of course it was explainable, rental property. As for my boss, they know and they hate it when I burn my vacation leave to flip or clean or paint and come back to work burnt out vs relaxed. I show them all my vacation pics... Me ripping out flooring, a completely full dumpster, before shots and after photographs. When I'm stuck on a project I bring in pics and ask how to fix this or that. It's just the way it has to be, for now. Someday I will vacation anytime I want.