All Forum Posts by: Robere Istatia

Texas won't charge you a franchise tax unless you pass their yearly threshold but 7k in this example wouldn't pass the threshold. For LA they want you to report all of your income to be applied towards state income tax calculations and back out the amount you've paid in taxes due to other states. 

Hello Sophie, 

It can be very advantageous to get the cost segregation done now while the property is new in your portfolio. If you wait you will need to amend returns retroactively. 

The main advantage to doing a cost segregation is to speed up depreciation to lower your taxable income on the in recent years rather than in the future. There will be other opportunities to lower your income in the future so I would focus on if you need your taxable income reduced and if so by how much for the next 3-7 years, then you can determine if a cost segregation approach is best or an alternate. I am a CPA and there are several others on here that can help with the details.

Best of Luck, 

More than likely the bank would need some sort of collateral or good credit. If both are not good you are going to have a tough time getting a loan of that amount. 

If there is no match there is honestly no reason to tie your money up with them especially if the returns are lack luster. I would either setup your own third party 401k if you’re in a situation where you need one. If not I would do exactly what you were suggesting and just normally invest. Most 401k returns are moderate at best the only reason to take advantage of them is for the match, once that’s out the picture the decision is a no brainer. 

With these matters I recommend a CPA to help walk you through the nuances of a transaction like this. There are a few ways to do this but it depends on your situation, we would need to know more. If you are single or married and lived in the house for 2 years you are allowed to deduct 250k-500k in gains as a primary residence exclusion. 

If the primary residence exclusion isn’t sufficient depending on the situation why you are selling. If you need to move which is forcing the sale there are exclusions available for that as well. 

Lastly but the most notable is a 1031 exchange can happen. If you are keeping your money in real estate but not that specific property once you sell the property, if you turn around and buy more real estate the gains can be all the way or partially excluded depending on the new property you buy. 

I am a licensed CPA if you’d like to talk more about this feel free to message me. 

Hey @Erin Elam, 

I know there is hardly any information on B4A on here and that was the main reason I started this post. I just wanted to have a source of reference whenever I use B4A again in the future.  

As far as the process went...... It was surprisingly smooth. I think I played it kinda safe though. I limited the shinanighans by doing my research ahead of auction closure (For instance if the auction ended in the next 2 days I didnt look into it due to the amount of time restricting me.) I found 4 almost identical properties that expired within 5 days (all from the same seller) and just waited until there was about 20 mins left on the auction. Of the properties I liked 3 of them started to get bid up but one was left behind. Like I said all of the properties were about the same in all respects ie. size county price. With about 20 mins left in the auction I jumped in and I won :). No other bidders. Once the auction closed I researched the seller and found them on Google. I gave them a call before they had a chance to call me and I got the ball rolling. I needed to wire the funds over and get a document notarized and sent to them and within 3 weeks I had a title in my mailbox. It was really easy and streamlined, I know it is a little scary jumping into something that is not widely reviewed but I definitely recommend B4A. If you have any further questions about the process don't hesitate to reach out. 

****** Update

I have since bought a property using this site. It seems to me that it is highly dependent on the seller you are purchasing from. I do agree with @Joe Mclain they seem to be making there money through fees but that does not negate the fact that you can still get a good deal. I have used this platform to purchase cheap land across the nation to allow myself to get experience selling at a distance. $601 for an acre is not too bad to teach yourself a lesson and to allow yourself to expand your scope of knowledge, plus you can sell the property. Do your research, sometimes you can find parcels with warranty deeds. 

I am selling a tax deed piece of vacant land. I have a quiet title and no liens on the property. I have a buyer but I am not familiar with the closing process. Is it a must to go through a title company or can I self close. I am in FL and I have a FARBAR contract but I am not sure if it can be between me and the seller or is there any other professional that needs to be involved. Please help, I am trying to close May 6th. 

I dont have an issue paying the debt off, I just dont want to pay it off extremely fast because that wont help my score as much as if I were to make my monthly payments for a consistent/extended period of time. The issue was never the payments because I have a low loan amount/ monthly payment. I do agree that my priorities were wrong but at this point that is water under the bridge. I am specifically looking for resources or anything that can help me get into a house. I know I could put a mobile home on one of my properties but the cost benefit doesnt seem worth it. There are a lot of hidden costs behind mobile homes, its not just a situation where you place a mobile home on a residential lot (zoning, utilities and costs)

Hello BP,

I am a current investor in the Tampa, FL market. I have been investing in raw land and have created a small portfolio of lands. The land investing arena has been doing very well for me but now I want to switch my strategy to get into the rental property arena. Unfortunately, my student loans have crippled my credit score and now I am approaching 30 and have credit below 550. I only have my student loans and a paid off car with no late payments on my credit. I was paying my car off and investing in my and business and not paying my student loans intentionally because they had very low rates. My strategy worked overall because my car is paid off and my business has been up and running, and my loans are still relatively low (14k.) The one caveat i have is that my credit score has suffered because of unpaid SL payments and the car didnt help because I paid it off in less than a year on a 6 year loan. 

I am in need of somewhere to live as my mom is planning on moving out of state. I wanted to switch my method to taking out a mortgage and house hacking it to build wealth through that, but I dont have the time to build my credit (I have since started paying my monthly balance on the student loans and have opened a credit card and am making payments for the full amount)(I have seen noticeable jumps in my score since starting these payments). Long story short, I havent found anyone that will provide me with a mortgage. I have always had subject to mortgage investing on my mind but now I need to start heading in that direction. I am here to ask the BP community to ask about what you would do from here, what contracts I need, any lenders that would give a low credit score a mortgage if they dont have anything big thats negative on there credit. Any response much appreciated. #OperationGetAHouse