All Forum Posts by: Ron Todd

I love Table investments. I bought a property through them last year and look forward to more! I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Hey Tom, some additional expenses I see in MFH vs SFH are utilities (I pay water/trash for MFH) and lawn care (I take care of for MFH). In my SFH, the tenants are responsible for the utilities and lawn maintenance.

I think diversification is key. I still contribute to IRAs and my real estate ventures, the only thing that has changed over the last decade is that I've shifted real estate to be more of a priority. If you are unsure, maybe put half as much into the IRAs and move the rest towards real estate. Like someone said above, you can withdraw from your Roth tax free as long as you are taking out what you put in and not any of the interest you've accumulated. I've done that before when I found a property I wanted to buy in cash. You can play around with the monthly amounts that go towards your Roth and real estate and see what works best for you.

I'd also add to look for updated electrical. Old school knob and tube isn't fun. I've seen plenty of old homes that have updated electrical and left the inactive knob and tube in place. 

Hey Margaret, if you wanted to get an investment property and be legal, why not buy a new primary and move into it and rent your boyfriend's house out? Lying on loan docs will probably lead to lying on taxes will probably lead to a new 1bd/1ba in jail. 

One thing to keep in mind is you are probably going to want a property manager to help with your property. There won't be much time in basic to take care of any issues that pop up and (assuming active duty) who knows where you will get stationed. If the numbers make sense with management factored in, why not go for it? 

The VA loan is amazing. I've done exactly what you are looking at doing, twice now. I've got 3 VA loans running concurrently. It works because I lived in the homes then rented them out when I PCS'd.

Hey Sean, you cannot use your VA loan to buy a rental property. You can however use a VA loan to buy a primary residence to live in, then rent out when you move.

I have a septic at one of my rentals. It's not a big deal, I just made an information letter about septics that I attached to the lease and told the tenants what to expect. Certain cleaning chemicals should not go down the drain and I let them know they should be looking for chemicals marked septic safe. I get the system cleaned annually for a couple hundred bucks.

I created an LLC with two other partners. The key to success is to have a solid operating agreement (OA). Who owns what portion, what are the roles, what do you do if a partner isn't performing how you expected, basically get all the awkward discussions out of the way and signed into the agreement. It's important to remember that you are running a business and should try to leave no room for ambiguity in the agreement. It has helped me to have a thorough OA when I discussed performance with one of my partners that wasn't holding up his end of the partnership. As for joint bank accounts, the three of us have access to our LLC's account, nothing cosmic there.