All Forum Posts by: Nick Hammen

Thanks for the overview @Dave Foster. The paperwork was signed last night and it was technically a net loss, so it's no big deal either way. I'll remember that in the future that the 1031 needs to be initiated before the sale. Luckily I'm learning this with non-profitable cheap property now than make a huge mistake down the line.

Thanks @Natalie Kolodij. I figured, but thought I'd get a second thought on it since I'm still new to the game.

This is going to be a weird one. When I was 18, I bought my first house (live in at the time). I moved out about 4 years ago, and had a buddy staying there without paying rent. Agreement was that he payed the utilities and insurance, and as long as he up-kept the property, I wouldn't charge for rent. Within the last week, I finally ended up just selling the house to him for a menial amount (tired of paying the property tax essentially). I would like to investigate if I can perform a 1031 exchange, but since it didn't generate rental revenue, I'm not sure if it would qualify. I have an actual rental house that I'm hoping to close on later this month, so this would be the contender. Any guidance on this, or would it just be better to just pay the taxes? (Sold for $1000, bought for $5000 back 10 years ago, so it'd be a loss).

Thanks @Will Fraser. Not sure if a construction loan is plausible. I'm in the middle of nowhere. Since this is a first rental property, I was looking for a way to finance the renovation cost without a lot of cash up front.

I am looking to close on a rental house in the next month. I'm estimating some rehab costs before listing it for rent. I would like to finance the rehab work by rolling it into the cost of the mortgage instead of taking out a second loan on the property. Would that be a best practice, or would it be better to find a hard money lender, do the rehab work, and then get a mortgage based on the purchase and rehab costs?

Hey everyone, my name is Nick. I've very new to real estate, more specifically, single-family rental properties. I just became a pro member, and have been learning, attending webinars, reading book after book, and subscribing to real estate podcasts for about a year and a half now.

I am looking to complete an acquisition on my first official rental property by the end of next month. I've done my homework, ran it through various scenarios on the calculators on here, and have started the conversation with the realtor handling the seller's side of the sale. I have not walked through or proposed an offer yet. I am in the process of finding a good real estate agent to represent me before I proceed any further.

I am still researching options for financing to make sure I have that base covered for when I get to that point, but being in rural Iowa, sites like Rentometer don't work and alot of the mortgage options offered on here won't qualify it since the total loan would be under $30,000. I have excellent credit, so it's just finding the right financing and company at this point.

The house allegedly (haven't walked through or inspected yet) is move-in ready. For financing, is it better to take out a 2-year personal loan and refinance it after a year to a 30-year mortgage, or is it better to finance it with the mortgage directly? Any pros, cons, or pitfalls?

When/If I do offer on the property, I will be starting out at 75% of asking price with my own terms and contingencies, but based on inspection, I may raise my offer and request credit for repairs. Any strategy advise for this?

Happy to be in the community. I'm ready to dig in!

I don't know if this is relevant, but I am new to the real estate game, and learning as much as I possibly can. I am planning to close on my first rental property by the end of this month. For the past year and a half, I have read several books, listened to numerous podcasts, and attended an abundance of webinars. I've been able to learn quite a bit, at least enough to have a basic starting point. One common theme I've noticed is the importance of allocating 10% of your monthly income or cash flow and donating it to causes or charities. The concept revolves around giving first to receive 4 folds. None of them go into detail as to why this is.

Is there a business reason behind this in terms of taxes or general good will? Does it make sense financially to implement this into a strategy, or is it just a moral concept? I'd like to hear from the community to get thoughts from current investors and the seasoned pros since this topic is covered over and over in almost everything I've been reading, but with no real reasons or incentives as to why.