All Forum Posts by: Seth Firestone

My real estate partner and I bought our house in May and are currently filing our taxes with Turbotax.  We received our 1098 and are stuck trying to figure out how to file it.  We're not sure if one of us puts the full amount or if both of us split it 50%. 

I'm currently house hacking my first purchased home.  I'm curious what renovations are worth it and what to stay away from.  My plan is to move out in a year or two, once I've saved up to buy another place and start renting my current home out.  What updates would be beneficial to increase the cost of a rental? Are there any updates that are known to have zero effect on increasing the value of the house?

I live in the Northern Virginia area where most of the properties have about a $3,000 a month mortgage.  My partner and I are looking to buy our first property soon and we plan to house hack it for a year.  I think about the risk we take buying a place with a high mortgage.  Isn't it kind of silly to invest in such an expensive area? Let's say we cash flow around $270 a month, and then we are vacant for a month.  That would mean we pretty much lose all of the money we made right? Am I overthinking vacancies or is this something I should be prepared for?

Me and my friend have lived at home for more than a year and have saved up enough money to buy a house and move out.  We are looking for a good deal but the area we are trying to move to doesn't seem to have to any amazing deals.  I'm sure we might find something once we get a real estate agent and start aggressively looking.  I'm curious though, is it a bad idea to buy something that isn't a deal and won't cash flow that much if you're house hacking and just trying to get started? Would it be better to rent somewhere while we look for a deal? We are very anxious to get started on our first property and don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

Me and my partner we're planning on looking to house hack our first property sometime around December.  One of my co-workers mentioned that there might by a decline in the housing market and that we should wait a year or so to buy any property.  Does anyone have any thoughts on a possible decline in the housing market? Should we wait a year like my co worker said?