All Forum Posts by: Michael Bertsch

I have multiple investment properties and living in a SFR. I am wanting to buy another house to owner occupy and turn my current house into a rental. What are the reserve requirements for a conventional loan with Fannie Mae? Do I only need a few months of PITI for the primary or will I need a % of the unpaid principal balance of all my properties ?

@Chris Mason 

I agree with Daniel on the HELOC. If you can use the HELOC to purchase rental properties, you can deduct the interest on your schedule E. This will possibly give you a larger passive loss to reduce your taxable W2 income.

@Brandon Hall if you have tax questions, he is your man.

There is a special tax rule called “start up expenses”. It always you to deduct the costs you incur to get your rental business up and running. You can deduct up to $5k the first year you are in business and anything over has to be expense over 15 years. So, you should be able to deduct your education, travel, and office expenses. Now once you get a property and it’s advertised for rent, you can not use the start up rules exemption anymore. Keep track of every $ you spend before that. As for the money you transferred over, try not to commingle personal and business funds. Keep in mind, tax rules may change first of the year. I am not a CPA so definitely speak with one.

Rental income may be subject to self employment tax. That’s a big one I’m worried about.

Yeah, I’m gonna give Cozy a test run and see how it goes. I was using chase Quickpay but they changed some things for non chase members.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

What do you guys use for online rent collection?

It’s gonna be your original purchase price plus capital expenditures. I wondered the same thing after I fixed up a few houses and refinanced them.

I'm a big fan of porcelain tile wood look planks 6"X24". They look awesome and are damn near indestructible. I get the entire house tiled. I have it in all my rentals.