All Forum Posts by: Oscar Cortez

Hi all,

I was hoping to get a recommendation for an accountant that was familiar with house hacking. I have rented 2 rooms this year and am on the verge of turning my property to a mid term rental with 3 different parties primarily to traveling professionals.

I would also aporeciate knowing how much yall pay your accountants and what your bookkeeping process usually looks like?

I plan on going through my previous expenses this week and start cleaning uo my books for an accountant to look at for taxes.

Thanks for your help!

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

I would do some digging in your market. First look at comps for the 5 BR on Furnished Finder and other sites. Are most of the 5 BRs currently available? This may signal that there’s not much demand. With larger homes (and MTR in general) being proactive vs reactive and just listing on the OTAs is the best way to keep your property rented.

Another tip is to run the numbers both ways. If you plan to rent the property out as one unit, I would factor in higher vacancy numbers than by the room which gives more cushion. Do the same for the by the room scenario. When it comes down to it MTRs can usually work by the room or as a whole home but it depends on your preferences and level of involvement on the management side. 

Large properties are great to house insurance claims - families who need housing after their home caught in fire, had a flood, or another natural disaster. You can list your property on sites like ALE Solutions to get them in front of the relocation specialist who search for the homes. 

Thank you Jamie! I didnt even think about insurance claims victims. I will have to look into ALE solutions

Quote from @Mason Weiss:

I would test demand of the whole property on zillow or furnished finder and see what interest there is from tenants. You can do this now so you have a confident strategy come November.

Thank you Mason this is a good idea!

Hi all,

I am currently house hacking my 5 bed 3 bath home with my wife and newborn on furnished finder. I started renovations last year and luckily was able to build a single wall to separate our side of the house (3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom) from the master bedroom and another guest room essentially turning it into a makeshift 3 unit property. The 2 bedrooms we rent have their own private restrooms and makeshift kitchenettes although I did not get permits for anything since I was thinking of this time as a proof of concept. The guest bedroom was finished first and is now on its 3rd tenant having been rented consistently since January. The master bedroom was finished in May and took until August 1st to rent out. The 2 rents cover PITI but we pay for utilities.

Although its been great learning experience we plan on moving back to my wife's parents for help with the baby which brings me to the fork in the road.

I was going to rent our side 3bed 1 bath for about 2000 - 2500 as the comps on FF are about that for a 2-3 bedroom. The 2 guest bedrooms currently bring in 850 and 1000 so the total would be between 3850 - 4300. However the comps for a 4-5 bedroom 3 bath are about 4000 - 5000. So my concerns are the following:

Pros:
- More money
- 1 single party to deal with

Cons:
- Vacancies? (I feel like it would be harder to rent a whole house on midterm rather than individual rooms)
- Tenants will probably have kids and more wear and tear on the house?
- I like to use the detached garage as my storage and had plans on eventually making it an ADU and i feel that itd be easier to have tenants agree to me coming in and out of the garage if they are already sharing the property with other tenants rather than if I am renting the whole house to a single party.

What do yall think? Are there other pros and cons I can add to my list to help me decide? We plan on moving in November or December.

Thank you all

Hi Colleen. I have been taking zelle and venmo payments. A CPA (friends dad) i talked to told me i should be giving receipts for each months rent for tax purposes. Am i overthinking this? Im dreading tax season since itd be my first time with rental income

Hi all. I started midterm renting rooms in January on Furnished Finder. Up until recently did I discover that I needed to be giving out rental receipts as a business would. I currently have 2 tenants that are coming into their 2nd month of rent with me. I will be giving them receipts I found from law depot and moving forward. 

However, is it too late to give them a receipt for first months rent?

what about security deposit?

Should I reach out to the 2 previous tenants and offer them their receipts for the months they were here?

Thank you all for your help