All Forum Posts by: Michael Smith

@Dennis M. is right on the money! If you need to close in your personal name for financing purposes, you can transfer info a Trust for estate planning purposes without activating the due on sale clause (per the Garn–St. Germain Act)

Austin, for full disclosure I'm not a tax professional so please consult one - - - Depreciation/depletion/amortization are the only "non-cash" expenses you can deduct. You can't deduct money set aside in a reserve to pay for future expenses - - - Regarding the mortgage, your monthly statement and escrow statements should itemize exactly how much is going to interest, principal, MIP, etc. so that you can classify those correctly - - - For the renovations made with an FHA 203k loan, those would be considered capital improvements and not repairs so they should be added to the cost basis of the property and depreciated over time.

There's a great company called Forewarn you should check out (www.forewarn.com). You can type in the tenant's name and phone number, and it will pull any addresses associated with them. I've successfully used it to track down a tenant's new address when they refused to provide me with a forwarding address. In addition to addresses it will pull automobiles, criminal records, etc.

To truly remain anonymous you'd need to hire a property manager - And even then they could still find you through public records unless you own the property in a Trust - I'm assuming you put contact info in the letter you sent, other than just a return mailing address? They need to have a way to contact you immediately in the event of a maintenance emergency. Personally, I would go ahead and send official notice that you'll be conducting an inspection on a certain date/time as allowed by State Law and the Lease Agreement. If they don't comply and reasonably provide access you could decide whether or not to start the eviction process over that.

Hi Mark! Here's how I would look at it: What if you only one tenant living there, and that individual started only paying half of the rent due each month? You should treat this situation exactly the same. Tenants are jointly and severally liable for the full rent amount, so the "paying tenant" also has a responsibility to ensure the entire amount is paid. I would advise to follow the terms of your lease, and start the process by issuing a notice under the laws of your State.

@Nicholas Owens I just sent you a colleague request

Not a problem at all - when you purchased, you signed an affidavit stating that you INTEND to occupy for at least 12 months. As long as that was your intent on the day of closing, you're good. Easy to show that you were offered a great job and had no way of knowing that would happen beforehand.

It's never too early to start building relationships!

Thanks @Justin Hunt! 

@Liz C., I'm a buy-and-hold Investor and Agent here in Greenville. I'd love to chat whenever you have some free time, to discuss your goals and to see if we'd be a good fit.

Hi @Tyler Fletcher, prices have been increasing for the last several years and and we are in a hot market right now, but you can still find deals that make good sense as a buy-and-hold investment. The numbers still work!