All Forum Posts by: Samantha Magina

Just pick one property each year, I wouldn't split it up between the properties if that's what you are asking. Ultimately all the properties net together for tax purposes, one might make money, one might lose money but they all get combined to the same line on the Sch E ultimately to move to the front of the return. I've also seen people split expenses evenly, for example their bookkeeper cost would get divided evenly among the schedule E properties. This would not be practical for a printer or most assets.

That's how it works in Massachusetts. Pay the exam fee first, if you pass then you pay the license fee.

I'm fascinated, I'm a CPA so I only know Ogden as a major IRS location mailing center.

My aunt has a 1/2 a dozen to a dozen dogs at any given time , German Shepard trainer. She can't live in most city limits because of zoning. I'd check that out for future reference.

You may luck out with a community bank that is willing to look at your previous w2 pay and also your company's tax return for 2016 and possibly year to date financials for 2017. You left a w2 job but moved directly into a self employed role in the same industry.

Do you have a possible cosigner? What's the cause for the bad credit? The bank isn't going to like a high debt to income ratio but they should be factoring in 75% of rents on a 4-plex. Have you called multiple banks? You are going to get varying responses.

All commissions are negotiable, you could ask for lower. 5% is the standard because there are a lot of people taking a cut. The lower volume wouldn't necessarily encourage agents to lower their percentage as they still have to split with buyer broker and agent and their broker and then have fewer sales overall. I doubt a change of 5% to 4% would be a catalyst for increased volume. I paid less because I requested it and was selling my first home and buying at the same time so my agent was amicable since 2 transactions were in the foreseeable future.

I consider parking spaces, sounds silly but 2 cars per unit plus possible desire for guest parking means 8-10 spaces, which is a decent size parking lot assuming all cars need independent access. Outdoor areas are also a consideration. In SFH it's reasonable to include tenant lawn care in the lease, but tri and quads wouldn't. Consider if all utilities are separated out to the individual units, as that could become a substantial cost over time that is better passed on to the tenants (people are more responsible with utilities they pay for personally).

I'm eyeing my first flip, I'll be using sweat equity for as much as possible because of financial constraints that I project for the first few properties. I did a lot of work on my single family home previously, which does not make me an expert, or talented, or time efficient but it has provided me enough experience to know that if cash is tight I'm capable of certain work such as landscaping, painting, drywalling, patching walls, adding baseboards and trim (it's satisfying to finally use geometry). I've even done a roof before and would consider doing it on a single story home or garage. Long term, I have no plans to do reno work but I do believe the more hands on I am in the early flips the easier it'll be for me to spot a good contractor from a bad contractor. In your case I think you should do one or two properties but keep a close eye on your time vs how long a contractor would take. Also, there is no reason you can't have a satisfying side project ongoing while you have most of your projects being run by a GC if the manual labor makes you happy. Gotta be happy otherwise why are we all doing this?

My family enrolled in private health insurance through an agent, we looked at the plans on our state exchange but the plans didn't give us warm fuzzy feelings in the event we actually needed to use the insurance as it is designed. Our family plan is $1400 in MA but very low oop costs.