All Forum Posts by: Ryan D

Hey Charles, thanks for the heads up! This is great to know as I'm meeting with my tax professional next week to discuss this topic.

I've used the forum quite a bit over the past couple years to help me through the process of buying my first property. It's now my primary residence, but I'll eventually rent it out. I've currently got a roommate and as such I'm looking into claiming 50% as a rental for tax benefits. Any insight on that strategy? I'm also looking for a duplex to buy and hold. I found one down the street and am hoping to set up some owner financing on the purchase. They're pretty desperate to sell so I'm hoping they'll be open to such an offer.

Hey all, I'm not really new to BP, but am new to investing. After a couple years of saving my pennies and doing some casual RE investing homework, I think I'm finally at a point where I can get serious about RE investing. After some "drama" I bought a place of my own about a year ago and that has influenced my investment philosophy. Any advice/recommended readings/recommended investment courses? Anyone out there in the Pittsburgh area currently investing?

Ha I like your thinking Steve! From what I understand, the property has been in the family for awhile. The current owner (son) inherited it from his mom and wants to get rid of it ASAP. It's been sitting vacant for a few months now. So... I'm assuming that he's not wanting the hassle of tenants but wants/needs some cash. I'm also assuming he's not as sophisticated an investor as you guys. So maybe an easy 5% won't sound so bad to him? Hopefully I can find out more tomorrow form my agent. Thanks again guys!

Okay one last question... Assuming the seller owns the property free and clear, let's say I offer 50K with 10% down. I ask the seller "loan" me the remaining 45K at which I repay in 25 years at 5%. I'd handle paying taxes, insurance, maintenance etc. Seems like a no brainer to me. Easy money for the seller netting close to 80K when all is said and done. Is something like that legal/realistic? Apparently the seller is open to anything although I'm guessing they haven't considered a non-conventional approach like this. I'm meeting with my agent/attorney tomorrow and would like to have an idea of what I can and can't do. The standard 25% down conventional approach is out for me.

yeah i agree with you on that. at least at this point in my investing career. which isn't even really a career at all yet. thanks!

Hi Bill, are there any good forum topics/articles/websites you can recommend on this topic? Based on this and other posts of yours I've read, you seem to know your stuff. Thanks again!

Hi Rob, thanks for the feedback. I talked with David last week for about an hour and it seems like what he's doing is very effective. He's a very nice guy as well. However, to follow his plan, I would have to completely throw my personal investment philosophy out the window. While I agree that Dallas is a great market for investing, I don't think I'm ready to make that jump. This purchase would be my first investment and it's difficult for me to justify investing in Dallas (a place I've never been) after spending an hour on the phone with someone I've never met. I'm guessing most people would agree with me there. Does he allow you to employ his strategy/financing in other areas of the country? If I can make the deal work and after a few repairs, I could pick up a "Hassle Free" duplex in my area. However, as stated earlier in this post, conventional financing is basically out of the question.

sounds good thanks for your insight!

Thanks for the quick responses!

I think it's a free and clear situation because from what i understand it belonged to the current owners parents and was passed down to him. Now he wants to get rid of it asap.

When you say the possibilities are endless, can you throw any ideas/recommendations out there? I'm a new investor trying to think outside the box.