All Forum Posts by: Ron Brady

@Jamie Banks What recent news from Zeus?

My wife and I have rented by the room.

In managing residents, we screen diligently and conduct house meetings when a new group is put together in a home and thus set out ground rules. We have to intervene when there are conflicts, which are inevitable. My wife used to be a school disciplinarian so she is used to this. But if you truly dislike dealing with adult conflicts, you will tire of this niche. We find that when we a) set out ground rules from the beginning, and b) allow existing roommates to interview and give us feedback on potential new roommates, conflicts are minimized. We, on the other hand, are willing to deal with the conflict for the added rent yield. For us, it's worth it.

Happy to answer any questions and share our roommate meeting agenda.

Best wishes to you

Not sure if this helps, but we are in NJ. We contacted a local bank and asked them how to set up an account for a tenant's security deposit. It was not high yield, but the bank was very familiar with this and walked us through the steps. Fairly easy. 

@Jonathan R McLaughlin Thank you for your input. We will definitely confirm what the town will permit regarding renting before we buy. Very helpful.

@Bruce Woodruff Thanks for the thoughts, Bruce. Very helpful.

@Account Closed

Thank you for your thorough, clear and helpful post. Based on your response, it appears that the investment property route would be our best bet. I really appreciate your taking the time to share your expertise on this issue. 

My wife and I live overseas ~40 weeks out of the year. We visit our former home area the other 12 weeks (4 visits x 3 wks/visit) to manage/renovate/grow our 7-property investment portfolio and to tend to personal matters. Up to now, we mostly stay in hotels when we visit our former home area.

We are considering purchasing a home with an in-law suite to part-time, remote house hack in our former home area. Doing so, we think, could provide us with a cost-effective and consistent place to stay during our visits stateside. What is the best approach from a tax perspective?

A. Buy as investment property, rent out the main house and use the in-law suite when visiting.

B. Buy as a second/vacation home, rent out the main house and use the in-law suite when visiting.

C. Another option we may be missing.

Funny. I do find myself offended by the idea that one is a left-wing extremist if he/she is concerned about fairness. 

Personal home exemption for anti-discrimination laws makes perfect sense to me. But I'm not a lawyer so no take on the substantive question.

We use Rentler for our 7 properties and love it.

We use Rentler for our 7 properties and we love it. 

My wife and I live in Burlington County, NJ. We started at age 51, in 2019.

We researched 1-2 months and started searching for properties. We made lots of rejected offers based on our single family home rental investment criteria. It took us 6 months of searching and offers to get an offer accepted.  

We recommend that you set your criteria and begin actively looking after a few months of research. The process of actively looking amounts to real learning time, we found. 

Best wishes to you.