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All Forum Posts by: Mike Hansen

Mike Hansen has started 3 posts and replied 12 times.

Quote from @Doug Smith:

We do them, but they aren't cheap and your LTV will be lower that a HELOC on a primary residence. Banks aren't really in the business of lending to real estate investors anyway...they focus primarily on "operating entities", but they can be done. They will, however, be above the rates your posting. There's a significant risk premium for investor 2nds.

I’m willing to accept higher interest rates on a line of credit as the overall $$ amount is significantly lower than refinancing an entire property at the above mentioned 6-7%, not to mention restarting the amortization schedule all over again. What is the avg interest rate for a line of credit?

It appears there are less banks/lenders out there doing lines of credits on a rental property vs primary home. What banks or lenders are other investors using to access some of their equity? Not looking to cash out refi a sub 3% for today’s current 6-7%. 

Quote from @Sean Carter:

Hey everyone currently active duty military I would love utilize my va loan for investment  purposes don’t know where to start  in GA btw 

 Sean,

welcome to the BP community and congrats on wanting to start your REI journey. I too am active duty and have utilized my VA several times to expand my portfolio as it is a great tool to use if you’re willing to live in the property for the required 12 months. First, I would get with two people, an investing friendly real estate agent which you could connect with on here as well as a local lender. That way you can see what you qualify for. To maximize your first VA entitlement, I would skip the single family homes unless there aren’t really multi units (1-4units) available in your area. If you go the single family home route, I would find a house with 4-5 bedrooms so you can live in one, rent the other 3-4 via house hacking. If you don’t mind living with other people, this is the easiest way to get into REI with little capital from you. 12 months after living in the SFH or multi unit, you can then look for another property and rinse and repeat. Hope this helps a little as this was the strategy I used to start my journey. Like always, I’m always more than happy to chat more about other strategies or answer questions you may have. Best of luck on your property search
Quote from @Tom Dean:
Quote from @Mike H.:
Quote from @Tom Dean:
Quote from @Jonathan Greene:
Quote from @Tom Dean:
Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

I don't think that's a realistic price point for doing what you want. If you can spend 250-325k, you should think MTR, not STR, because that is more likely to scale in any area because of all of the different types of renters for MTR compared to STR, which is more location-based and amenities-driven. You can do MTR anywhere, but you can not do STR anywhere.

Thanks for the straightforward reply, I don't have an interest in MTR's as I would prefer to buy more LTR's at a lower price point instead. Wondering if you, or anyone else, has an idea of a minimum viable price point and city for doing a truly viable STR? I have been doing research into this but so far have not been able to be fully sure of this. Thanks.


Why are you more interested in STR than MTR? MTR is less spend on furniture, less guests, and at that price point for a buy, will likely make more money and have less upkeep and management. For LTR, your price point is fine for SFH in the Midwest in many states, but you would be better sticking with LTR and not trying to STR. To do short-term rental, you need locational amenities and house amenities to win and that price point won't get there.

Because with an STR I can write off  expenses against my W-2 income ( I expect a loss the first year) if it's an average 7 day stay or less. MTR is treated like an LTR from what I understand and I already own a couple LTR's so would rather do more of those than an MTR and avoid the extra hassle of furnishing, etc.

 Here is one that I'm a little confused on.  I am not sure I've ever seen where the tax writeoffs are different for STRs than they are for MTR's or LTR's in terms of writing losses off against your regular income.  Ultimately, if you're not considered a real estate professional, then you can only write off up to a certain amount against your regular income (25k maybe?).   But I think thats as long as you make 150k or less too.

I have never seen anything that suggests you can go over the 25k against your regular income if you're not a real estate professional just because its an STR. I don't think they differentiate the rental type for the writeoffs.



I've researched this a fair amount, from what I understand there's an exception section 469 of the tax code that says if you actively manage the str and have an average stay length of 7 days or less then it's treated as an active business and the income is therefore not passive and expenses are able to be written off against W2 income. I've seen other posts on bigger pockets that discuss this as well.


You are correct. Multiple stipulations to qualifying but if one does their due diligence, it's fairly straight forward. A lot of investors don't understand all the tools that are available to them because you would have to talk to someone that strategizes taxes i.e CPA, enrolled agent, tax lawyer etc. in order to use the short term loop hole, you must rent your STR for 15 days or more and be no greater than avg stay of 7 days. Not 7.1. here's a real life example using your buy point

property bought $300K

Land value $37k, leaving $263k as building value (land can not be depreciated)

Having a cost segregation done, you can accelerate depreciation. On average, a safe number would be 1/3 of the building value can be reclassified which comes out to $86,790.

In 2024 bonus depreciation is 60% = $52,074

In 2025 bonus depreciation is 40% = $34,716

These $$ amounts are what you can write off in year 1 against your W2 income as a “paper loss”. Depending on what your income bracket is, this can significantly decrease your taxable income. Significantly different than the minimal taxes saved most people think, as this is a strategy they currently aren’t utilizing. 

Quote from @Mike Hansen:
Quote from @Tom Dean:

Would appreciate any advice, I would like to invest somewhere in the southeastern quadarant of US (for example I'm open to somewhere like Missouri that isn't traditionally part of the "southeast"), looking for somewhere where I could acquire a SFH STR between $250k - 325k.

So far I've looked mainly in Texas, Dallas seems too high for this, seems you need to be around at least $400k there to really get something decent for an STR. San Antonio seems it may potentially work as it's a bit cheaper than Dallas. I looked at OKC a bit but I'm just not sure the demand for STR's there is sufficient.

I'm looking to get a property with short term stays, 7 days or less. Would like decent occupancy, around 50%+, not too seasonal where it just sits empty half the year also. I would say I lean more towards cities, in case it ever needs to be turned into an LTR, but am open to more vacation-centric destinations.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks!


 Tom,

I completely understand the strategy you are looking to execute and accomplish when it comes to offsetting your W2 income with STR paper losses via cost segs and bonus depreciation. Your price range is very doable in the San Antonio market as prices in TX have continued to decrease substantially over the past quarter. Looking into the STR market, i would suggest a couple things to include into your property search. 1) the STR market is very saturated here so look for something unique or offer unique amenities to your guests, this will help your property stand out 2) different set of rules for properties located within city limits vs without i.e. outside city limits doesn't require a permit which the city is cracking down on the amount of STRs on any given street or neighborhood 3) HOA is a big deterrence as a lot of HOAs don't want any rentals of less than 30 days so an in depth search into covenants and by laws would be doing your due diligence. No one wants to make a six figure investment just to get shut down by the governing body for said neughborhood 4) property taxes are high so as long as you factor those into your underwriting and it still turns a profit, you're fine

My overall thought is San Antonio is a wonderful market for STR as well as having the exit strategy to turn it into a MTR if need be. While the MTR would allow you to execute the STR loophole strategy you're looking for, at least it's an exit strategy which is always good to have. I'd be more than happy to discuss any further questions you may have. Best of luck in your STR search.


MTR *wouldnt* allow you to execute the STR loophole strategy. Sorry for the typo

Quote from @Tom Dean:

Would appreciate any advice, I would like to invest somewhere in the southeastern quadarant of US (for example I'm open to somewhere like Missouri that isn't traditionally part of the "southeast"), looking for somewhere where I could acquire a SFH STR between $250k - 325k.

So far I've looked mainly in Texas, Dallas seems too high for this, seems you need to be around at least $400k there to really get something decent for an STR. San Antonio seems it may potentially work as it's a bit cheaper than Dallas. I looked at OKC a bit but I'm just not sure the demand for STR's there is sufficient.

I'm looking to get a property with short term stays, 7 days or less. Would like decent occupancy, around 50%+, not too seasonal where it just sits empty half the year also. I would say I lean more towards cities, in case it ever needs to be turned into an LTR, but am open to more vacation-centric destinations.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks!


 Tom,

I completely understand the strategy you are looking to execute and accomplish when it comes to offsetting your W2 income with STR paper losses via cost segs and bonus depreciation. Your price range is very doable in the San Antonio market as prices in TX have continued to decrease substantially over the past quarter. Looking into the STR market, i would suggest a couple things to include into your property search. 1) the STR market is very saturated here so look for something unique or offer unique amenities to your guests, this will help your property stand out 2) different set of rules for properties located within city limits vs without i.e. outside city limits doesn't require a permit which the city is cracking down on the amount of STRs on any given street or neighborhood 3) HOA is a big deterrence as a lot of HOAs don't want any rentals of less than 30 days so an in depth search into covenants and by laws would be doing your due diligence. No one wants to make a six figure investment just to get shut down by the governing body for said neughborhood 4) property taxes are high so as long as you factor those into your underwriting and it still turns a profit, you're fine

My overall thought is San Antonio is a wonderful market for STR as well as having the exit strategy to turn it into a MTR if need be. While the MTR would allow you to execute the STR loophole strategy you're looking for, at least it's an exit strategy which is always good to have. I'd be more than happy to discuss any further questions you may have. Best of luck in your STR search.

Is anyone in the BP community investing in West Homestead? Came across the area from a co worker as an out of state investor and realized that certain areas are able to hit the 1% rental target easily. Curious to hear if anyone is currently investing in the area and things you may recommend. 

Post: Starting out in Multifamily property investing

Mike HansenPosted
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 8

My first question would be how long do you plan to be overseas? Is it a term commitment or are you just employed with a company until you choose to leave or move on? The reason I ask you this is because if you're overseas for several years, that is potentially wasted time as time is the most valuable resource you won't ever get back. You can find a rental property and secure it via conventional loan or dscr, either way both you'll need around 20%, and let it do its thing until you get back stateside. You can then find a multi unit that at least has one vacant unit so you can utilize your VA loan. Now, you have an appreciated first rental that's hopefully generating cash flow, and a multi unit that provides a roof over your head and 1-3 units paying down your mortgage while all units continue to appreciate. Hope this helps and provides a different view point

Post: REI Tax Professionals

Mike HansenPosted
  • Posts 12
  • Votes 8
Quote from @Sean Graham:

@Rashad George I have a couple tax CPAs I am happy to introduce you to. Also, I highly recommend looking into cost segregation on your LTR if you haven't already


Would it be situation based to determine if a cost seg is worth it when not having REPS or utilizing the STR loophole? It was my understanding that when rental income is in the passive state, one could only write off a max of $25K

Quote from @Travis Biziorek:

Hey Genesis, congrats on looking for your second rental.

I'd highly recommend throwing Detroit on your list of places to check out. It's near most Ohio markets but is far less saturated. It's also seen some stellar price appreciation with the median price doubling in the last 5 years.

I own 12-doors there myself and live in California.


Travis, 


if you don’t mind me asking, what brought your attention to the Detroit area?