All Forum Posts by: Marco G.

Has anyone used “FlexStone” shower panels in a rehab, flip, or own home? Lots of reviews on Home Depot but curious about quality look and feel? How much of a savings from real stone?

Searching for tips and pitfalls encountered when converting personal residence to a rental.

When calculating cost for depreciation, what number do you use? Purchase price attributable to structure? Do you add in costs incurred over ownership for upgrades (paint, appliances, etc that would be added to cost basis when calculating section 121 cost basis)? What about costs to get the property rent ready? Anything different there from usual rental property rules?

I'm also in the process of doing a cashout where I am pulling out cash to use as down payment on new personal residence, pay off HELOC balance that was used as down payment on other rentals in prior years, and to improve the property for rent readiness.

Any tips or lessons learned highly appreciated! First time converting a personal to a rental.

@Nabeel Qureshi

It’s the same benefit of depreciating the building over 27.5 years, unless you qualify for accelerated depreciation which I can’t speak to.

@Joe Splitrock

So we agree then. Note what I said - “once it’s a rental”. Not “once a tenant is in there and it breaks down unexpectedly and you have an emergency on your hands”. Unless you’ve got it set up where someone is moving in the the next day after you move out, there will be a period where it is vacant and being advertised for rent. Making it a “rental” at that time.

@Nabeel Qureshi

Anyone who says replace it now doesn’t know anything about taxes. You have no incentive to replace it now as described by many above. This isn’t something where there are two views on it. One is wrong and one is right. Once it’s a rental it is a deductible or depreciable expense depending on what you do and how much it costs. In your case it will be depreciable because I imagine they can’t do a component upgrade o something that old so you will be getting an entirely new system. How much are the quotes? Make sure you get multiple.

@Luke Pontier

In my experience it’s not going to increase your appraisal value so keep that in mind when budgeting.

@Ryan Hoover

Looks like a total win in the numbers. What changes/improvements did you make in the $32k renovation?

@Sandra Habiger

Who says HELOCs are frozen? Forget about the big banks and shop credit unions. They take 60-90 days to close because de-prioritized by purchase transactions and refi’s but they are definitely far from frozen!

@Philip L.

Call a few dozen credit unions and ask. That’s the only way to find out.

@Soh Tanaka agreed. Local management is the way to go.