All Forum Posts by: Jordan B.

Has anyone utilized this program as a way to help with capital gains.  We are selling a couple duplexes this year and will be looking at 30-40k in capital gains to pay in.  From what I understand you get a temporary deferral, followed by a stepped up basis and permanent exclusion after 10 years...seemingly much better than the perpetual 1031 deferment.  Any experience with these programs?

As the subject line says, what have you found during your remodel.  Mine has to be working on an old huge brick plantation style house.  This house had tunnels underground that led to different small buildings around the property, that was interesting but not the story I wanted to share about this home.  So we were going to add a sun room off the side of the house, problem was when I was in the basement measuring where to punch the mechanicals through we kept coming up 10' short of the outside foundation at ground level.  Come to find out it was a false wall, so we punched a hole through it and in the center of the room was a coffin with a certain symbol carved in the top of it, I will leave out the symbol for sake of causing arguments.  There was Wiccan artifacts on shelves all around the false wall as well.  Nothing was in the coffin, (thank goodness!) and it got donated to a local museum.  Even stranger, when we went to dig the footers for the addition we found hundreds of animal skeletons (sacrifices)  Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get that job done and get out of there.  

Each state is different, in Indiana you must file an application by December 31st to be effective for current year.  Call into your local courthouse and they will tell you what you need exactly...should be very simple!

Yes sir that is correct, must be a primary residence so to speak

@Eric Whiteman, welcome to the industry!  As far as finding lenders for your clients any mortgage loan officer worth their salt will want to meet with you and develop a relationship.  When I got started as an agent I reached out to several lenders in my area and took them to lunch.  They will be excited to let you know what kind of products they lend with, how aggressive their bank is, etc.  You will find those "few" that will be an ongoing asset to you, mine always would let me know when rates were going up or down, if there was a new incentive, etc.  Now as a commercial lender myself those relationships are invaluable, feel free to touch base if you want to chat about this anymore.  Best of luck!

I have done it both ways, and looking at it with hindsight I would never do a remodel with tenants living in the unit again if at all possible.  Not saying it can't be done, but it will end up costing more money, time, and energy to get it done with the live in tenants.  You mentioned house hacking, is this a duplex?  Do you need to move in right away or could you remodel one half, move tenants in and then remodel your side.  I wouldn't be afraid to remodel the unit I would personally be living in.

There is an FHA product 203k loan for up to $35k in financed repairs, but it is not a great option for investors. Lots of paperwork and regs that take lots of time, and everything has to be done by licensed contractors (no sweat equity). For all of our flips and rentals we always went with a commercial lender at our local community bank, much easier to finance remodels, flips, etc and usually get better options for your down payments...less cash in initially.

@Vilner Labranche, try and find a local business banker and even better if it's a smaller community bank. There is so much more flexibility in a commercial loan than there is with the residential mortgages. Most commercial notes are kept on the banks portfolio so they have a lot more room to work with so to speak as far as down payment, LTV, debt coverage, etc.

Joe Villeneuve is exactly right, everyone involved in the process will give you a different number. As previously stated above spend hours looking at properties on the local MLS and learn to see a few things quickly. Obviously price, but other factors such as DOM (days on market). You may find a comp that seemed to sell high, but it was on the market for 200 days. Learn to read that data to the point you can do a quick walkthrough of a property and are able to "ballpark" a value quickly and confidently. Even bank appraisals are not a great baseline, since 2008 you will almost always get an appraisal that is within 3 percent the purchase price on a purchase agreement. So in a nutshell, it is like any skill, take the time to study and learn the values in your area. Below you will see a few things to familiarize yourself with, though not a comprehensive list. Days on market, list price, school district, year built, sq ft, property taxes, and selling price. Hope this helps, always glad to dive into more details or answer any questions Victor!

Just really curious on everyone's take on this, and I'm sure it varies person to person. My wife and I are on year 3 of dedicated real estate investing. Currently we have closed on and are remodeling 2 duplexes, managing our other 2 duplexes, beginning construction on 2 more duplexes and one single family spec as well as our first new construction commercial project.  Had another duplex fall into my lap that was a real good buy but would require immediate attention (remodel, new tenants) so we passed it to a friend who will purchase. The reason we started investing in real estate was to create more family time with our 3 kids, this is why we passed as this would have tipped the scales for me. Anybody else ever encounter these situations?  Trying to find my limits, and it killed me to give away a deal initially but I feel relieved now.