All Forum Posts by: Matt Smith

I am a brand new investor looking to buy my first rental. I live in California, where the market is just to crazy for me to even think about getting my start here. I have been looking at a few places in the mid west and south, and I've narrowed it down to a couple cities that i think I would want to buy. I want something small, a SFR or a small multifamily. I've read books and listened to the pod cast quite a bit, so my question is what advice would you give to someone new that they don't tell you in the books about long distance investing. What are some of the most common mistakes that newbies make.

Is the 121 exclusion a federal tax law or a state tax law.  Someone asked me this and I always just assumed it was a federal law.  If this is the case, would you still be subject to the state capitol gains tax.

@Paul Lund 

How was your experience 

@Paul Smith thank you for the advise. Although I did account for maintenance cost in my analysis I did not consider fees like the HOA, going up while I was locked into a lease.

@Navid A. Thank you very much for the advise. I'm not sure if the condo is in a desirable enough area. Also being as it would be our only rental I don't think keeping it around for a write off would be the best choice. The added expenses for new investors like us might be a little much. Thanks again for the post

@Hanna Brown thank you for the advise. Those tax advantages are very enticing.

Me and My wife are planning on getting ourselves into a "live in flip". Originally the plan was to use the equity from our condo in the form of a HELOC to fund the down payment of the home, and keep the condo as a rental. Yet after doing an analysis of the condo as a rental property, we come to the reality that it will not cash flow. Break even at best, but realistically it would be closer to negative $75.00. This being said would there be a reason to hold onto the condo rather than sell it now and just use the profit to fund the live in flip?

I just read this thread and I would love to know how things went.  Especially in regards to the contractor, and how things went on that end.  

@Mindy Jensen awesome advise! Thank you!

Thanks @Bob Okenwa I did read Bp's review of the tax bill and that part did concern me. I think I'll have to make a separate analysis of each property with that factored in.