All Forum Posts by: Matt Lawrence

Thanks for the welcome Nate, would u chose that over renting now to put more $ towards buying more properties as Ali suggested?

Jason - "Is it more worth it for you to live in a great area and "waste"(using your word) your money or can you sacrifice location for a year and live in a duplex and secure a great rental for yourself? "

That's a great question, it seems like I need to take a step back & think things more in depth. I can definitely sacrifice for a year+ but I need to think on the other side if its worth targeting a family home in the right location where I wouldn't have to move after starting a family where I could stay there long enough to be "worth it" for the money I'm using

I live in tulsa, ok and do my investments there as well. Yea that makes a big difference in my decision if it takes 5+ years to make it worth while. Im 29 & just assumed I would be married & starting family in about 4 years which usually equates to moving location/size of home.

I've always been a renter & just have a hard time feeling like I'm wasting my money as I will never get it back that way. What about the difference in what I would lose in renting for 4 years @600 (28,800) & buying a $120k home with 4500 closing costs? Maybe I lose money either way but lose less in buying a home @ a certain price than renting? I'm not sure how to measure that.

Thanks for the input Ali

I have an interesting situation where I'm starting to get overloaded with information I'm finding through research with the dynamics & variables of my future purchase.

I'm searching to buy a home for myself for the 1st time - I co-own 3 rental properties with a friend - and trying to take advantage of 1st time buyer benefits. Looking down the road I will probably only own this home 3-4 years before I upgrade/move locations & have read that you should handle loans differently if you don't plan on being there long-term. On top of that, my friend who I'm in business with 50/50 is a RE agent & we like the idea of buying the home I would purchase for myself to make as 1 of our rentals as soon as I'm ready to sell it.

Knowing this, can I get some feedback on how you would handle this situation? I'm considering a duplex with FHA living in it for 1 year, renting the other half then selling to me & my friends business but I don't like the locations of the duplexes I've found thus far.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

@Steven Hamilton II - "To answer your question, when was the property in rent ready condition and placed for rent? "

When we bought the home Dec. 17 it had a pet-urine odor in 1 of the bedrooms where we decided we needed to replace the hardwood floors in order to remove the smell. We also replaced the water heater that needed updated but still technically worked.

Jan 4th was when both of these were finished & we put up the for-rent sign Jan 5th. The house is still open but would assume we have tenants before the end of the month.

Thank you guys so much, I have a lot of research to do & this will help immensely - much appreciated.

Hey everyone, I'm new here & couldn't really find the answer to my question(s) so hopefully I can get some feedback/pointed in the right direction.

Me & my friend recently started a company buying homes to lease to future tenants. We recently bought our 2nd house in mid December & have done a few repairs with a couple more to be done in the months to come. What I want to know is if we put $2k in repairs in Dec 2012 & find our tenants in Jan 2013 where we begin to show profit, is that possible to show as a write-off for 2013 or more years to come?

Does it matter what kind of repairs? Is there a difference in reporting plumbing, floor replacement or electrician work?

Thanks in advance for any & all feedback/advice - It's great to be here!