All Forum Posts by: Cuong Thai

Hello Eddie,

Thanks for the reply.  I like the cash flow to but I don't want to deal with the tax that I have to pay later, in case I have to sell the house after 5 years or more.  It is my first rental so I still have lots to learn.  

Have a great day.

Dear All,

My family is trying to make the best out of a situation that we are currently in.  We live in Southern California and have a rental property which rents about 2k per month, after paying the mortgage (about 1028 dollars/per month, with 196K left at 4.65% rate for 30 years), we are able to keep 800 dollars.  The renter is in our house for about 1.5 years.  A couple week ago, my tax man advised us to sell the rental property before 5 years period, so our profit won't get taxed (ours is 15% bracket).  So we plan to sell the house in about 2 or 3 years, take those money and pay off our primary residence which owes about 260K at a 3.5% rate.

We were thinking about refi the rental property to a 5 year ARM, I called around and got the best rate at 3.625 with about 5000 dollars cost of closing cost with us bank and a payment of 868 dollars a month. If we go with this route, we are able to keep extra money in our pockets, but it is not a good way either (extra money is used to pay for the closing cost). Others gave me 4% with a cost of 3000 dollars.

We had lived in our rental property for 15 years and don't want to pay extra tax.  

What do you suggest us to do?  Should we keep the rental?  

Any suggestions are welcome.  Thanks you all for reading and suggesting.

@vivian
Hello Vivian,
Welcome to BP. I am not that far from you and a newbie myself. I have a rental property out here in the IE. I am also looking at the market in Dallas and Houston as well.
I think we need to read and learn more from these pros. The housing market is slowing down. I don't see any activities like 3 months ago around here.
Take care,

How come didn't @Joel Owens highlight blue? Thanks for all your help. I did read the tutorial, but it didn't work.

I totally agree with @joel owens wholeheartedly. It is not easy to enter a market that I am not familiar with. We always need a mentor who can walk us through all the ups and downs of the whole thing.

@Brandon Turner! Thank you for sending me the link. Yes, this website has a lot of great investors who unselfishly share their knowledge. I am very greatful for that.

@Aaron Mazzrillo! Thank you for giving me your great advice. I have my rental appraised to see what the market value is. I didn't pull all of it out, only 45% of its market value. My attention is that to acquire another property and let it generate another cash flow for us. How do I know where to look for good place with great value?
Thank YOU, Gentlemen!

@Ali Boone! Thank YOU for your sound advice. I have only one property which used to be my primary residence. I decided to pull the cash out on that one and purchase another. Yes, I definitely watch out for my cash flow.

Thanks everyone for a detailed explanation. I just never thought of reading line by line is that important. I often just give a quick look on the loan application.
Wow, I need to pay more attention from now on.
Take care

@Joel Owens Thanks for your input. So you think I should wait a little bit longer. Could you elaborate on your thought a little more? Thank YOU.

Good evening everyone,

Let me introduce myself. I am Cuong Thai, and I am new to this investing business. I found this website because I want to learn more about investing in real estate properties.

Currently, I own a home and have a rental property. My primary residence's mortgage balance is about 280,000 dollars (30 years fixed). We just moved into this residence about 5 months ago. My rental property's mortgage balance is about 34,000 dollars left on 5 years 2.74 fixed. I have about 4 years and 3 months left to pay off this mortgage. I want to do a refinance cash out (200,000 dollars) with this property and use this money to pay off some debts and invest in another SFR around here. I have a tenant in this house and currently pays 1800 dollars per month on rent. After paying my mortgage, tax, and insurance, I am left with around 900 dollars to spare.

What do you think of this idea? Any suggestions are welcome. My ears and eyes are open since this is totally new to me.

Thanks for reading my first post. I hope to learn and to contribute to this board for many more years to come.