All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Try contacting some banks located in Hawaii. Since so much of the property there is leasehold, they must have procedures in place to deal with buying and selling it.

Shane, you don't have to own the house for 5 years, but you can not live in the house one year, rent it out for 6 years, move into it for an additional year and get the exemption. The two years must fall within a 5 year period.

So, on top of posting illegal signs, you are going to smear the pole with adhesive and add vandalism to your activities?

I can't imagine that smearing glue would be any quicker than using zip ties, unless the glue is in a spray can.

I also know a guy who does the same thing with spec houses. He builds, moves in, lives long enough to get the exemption and sells. He then takes the profits and builds another spec house.

His wife is on board and does all the interior decorating and landscape design.

I've been doing it.

I buy a nice house, move in, fix it up while I am living in it, and sell after 3 years. 3 years is about what it takes to convert bad landscaping into eye catching sell-the-house landscaping.

When it is time to sell, I move out and have the interior painted and the carpets replaced with new. New paint and new carpet helps to sell.

I buy houses specifically because they are investments. So, not what I would build for myself, but what I can re-sell. Much better quality houses than I would ever use as a rental.

However, I gotta tell you, in this market I'm going to be in the current house several years longer. I like the house and see no reason to dump it. For what it would sell for today, I would buy it myself quick. So, might as well keep it.

I worry that Obama might discover that potential tax money is going uncollected and get the law changed to eliminate that home-owner's primary residence exemption.

Yes, moving is a pain, but if it puts an additional $100k in my pocket, what the heck, I'll move for $100k.

I'm currently looking for land to buy. A cruise through the MLS revealed a few possibilities.

A full 2/3 of those listings have a land area that disagreed with what the county assessor said was there. Are agents not even minimally checking the facts when they list a property?

And speaking of worthless agents, I called on 3 listings a couple of days ago and 3 different agents have never returned my phone call.

For others reading:

I'd probably put a tenant in it as it is now. As long as the tenant knows it is only theirs for 6 months, or whatever time period you decide on, it should work fine.

Then you get rental insurance on the property and it is not vacant.

You probably never caught one because you have to call "here, snipe, snipe." as you walk around in the dark.

Around here they hide in the sage brush. Probably afraid to live in the trees because Sasquatch might eat them. You sure wouldn't want to be wandering around in the forest at night beating on the trees and attracting attention to yourself.

Don't buy condos for rental units.

You have to deal with the HOA and the tenant won't care about the HOA rules. That makes an irreconcilable conflict.

You have to pay heavy monthly dues and risk huge assessments.

To a tenant, a condo is simply an apartment. They see no advantage in the dwelling being condo-ized.

I'd save up a bit more and try to get a single family home or duplex in a decent working class neighborhood. 10K difference in the price will make a world of difference in the neighborhood and very little difference in the payment.

That is really attractive. Curb appeal is important and I think you've got it.