All Forum Posts by: Rick Ortiz

My wifes primary residence previous to marriage (7 years ago) has sat vacant.  She wants to sell it but was curious of the taxable impact.  I am aware of the exclusion for primary residences  however since this was way outside the 5 year period would it still qualify for such an exclusion for captial gains?   It has not been rented since and was just sitting there.  Not sure if there is any other pertinent information needed . Any input from the community would be helpful.

@Sunny A.

Jersey shore is tough because the price of the property relative to rental income. Unless you dont have a mortgage and are paying cash. Otherwise its hard to break even with only the summer rental season. And the idea is to make money not just break even. Unless you are doing it to use for yourself and help offset expenses.

There is no way dropping $400 or $500k on a house is worth 15 rental weeks a year. The only caveat is if covid changes peoples ability to work remote, so a winter week down the shore might be more prevalent.

@Darius Ogloza

You do not invest for appreciation. You do not invest for cash flow. You invest to buid wealth. Okay... how does one build wealth without one or both of those things

@Jay Pillalamarri

Send me $250k. I will lose it for you. Win ..win for both of us

@Dustin Broeren

Charge market rent. Plain and simple. Are you sure they will qualify for a mortgage? What happens if they cant find a house even without the overhang of a contingency. Charge market rent and tbey can live there as long as they want. Im assuming market rent covers youf debt, taxes, ins and provides a reasonable profit.

@Kevin M.

So basically you had to tear half the place down in the middle of tenants living there. What a nightmare. Was it all inspections plumbing, electrical, etc? And than after that you had to apply for CO?

Just curious was your issue stemming from a major violation Or did it just spiral out of control?

How much time and money did this take and lastly in hind sight would you rathet have sold building. Or was it worth it?

@Pat Hamilton

The zoning overlay for the area is RSA-5 BUT there was seemingly a zoning variance granted in the 70s for a 3 unit.

L&I Property Cert states propery is Legally Registered as a Multi Family Dwelling. So not sure why that document seems to indicate legal use as a 3 family but people are saying i can potentially lose my zoning in addition to the CO stuff

Purchased a 3 unit property that was occupied in Philly. Purchase was done with financing. The title company  pulls a property certification from L&I stating that the building is legally registered for use as a 3 unit building.  Property is appraised as a 3 unit and mortgage underwritten as a 3 unit based on Property Certifiation. Now fast forward to getting a rental license after I took ownership. I get denied because the city claims that there is no CO on file for the property. In order to get a CO I need building plans drawn up.  And there is a chance that the property lost its zoning variance, which apparently can go away if previous owners never got there rental license for a period of time.  So I kind of opened a can of worms and was wondering if anyone has went through similair thing in Philly since Im sure Im not the only one.  At a minimum a need a CO for a property that has already been constructed and is being lived in by 3 different families.  Will they literally tear every wall down inside in order to isnpect everything or will it be a basic inspection for certain safety measures, means of egress etc..

Seperately I may have lost zoning due to the lack of previous owners rental license. That whole thing is a bit absurd considering the Property Certifcation from L&I obtained at settlement states property is legally registered for use as a 3 unit.  So not sure what good a property cert is if it isnt accurate.  

Anyone in the Philly area go through similiar situation with an existing building being rented and how was it remediated, time and money?

@Mike V.

How bout maintenace? Im guessing STR require more maintenance and im sure tenants want everything done asap since its there vacation. How do you coordinate that level of servicd from afar.

@Susan Tan

Im almost at that point. I dont have many units to date, just 19 doors. But i really only treated this like a business 2 years ago. So point is i expect to scale quicker (once im done forking up $60k a year for daughters college tuition). That being said i have a full time W2 job and im at a point where property mgmt needs to happen soon since im running myself thin.