All Forum Posts by: Shane Johnson

what they said. buy something then switch. dont rush to buy a piece of crap though.

FYI to anyone - most banks will want 2 years of W2's if you are in sales.

Chalk me up for a wishful 2009 crash as well. If I lost my job, id find or create other income. My expenses are very low and could go lower. Single, no family so I could move back in with Pops if I absolutely had to.

I just want more houses to buy, and there is not much right now. Unless a screaming deal comes along off the MLS/radar, I am going to sit tight, and stack as much cash as possible, so when the next correction comes, I am in a much better position to capitalize on it. If I only could have bought 5 houses like the one I bought 15 months ago, I would have 300k of equity due to appreciation.

I was more hopeful for a crash, but after reading Minh's posts, I have to agree we probably wont see something like that. Also, remember part of the reason for demand and the price spike we are seeing so dramatically right now, is due partly in fact to builders are still not back up to speed from the crash.

Id bet it all on black... and still come out equal to, or better than 98% of newbie wholesalers whether I won or lost. :)

@David Wolf has dissappeared... lol.

buy this one buddy! :) Your standards of refinishing may be too high, at only $500-600 a month for college students, they honestly wont care that much.

If you want to save money, do the floors yourself. Study how to's online for a week or two rent all the equipment and go to work (if your handy). I did my own floors for less than $1.00 a foot. They are not perfect, but after staining them walnut, and bringing in furniture, noone ever notices.

Make sure to watch craigslist. I would bet that you will see them for sale in the coming month or two.

I live in a 2/1 and rent a room to a friend. I give him a sweet deal at $350 a month plus $30 for cable/internet. You are definitely under charging. There will come a point where you will question if having them in the house is worth the extra money, if you aren't charging enough, you will not only be frustrated with them, but with yourself. ;)

Right now in my area - a single bedroom apartment above a bar (cheapest thing you will find) is at least $450-500+ utilities. I based my number off of this, and the fact we get along great, he doesn't smoke, no pets, etc.

Didn't forget it, but forgot to post it.:) I lived in the first house for 3 of 4 years.(tax credit 3 year homestead requirement satisfied ;) ) Live in my current house now.

"you could get only this much through the bank, OR, you could get this much through my bud... I mean, a private investor we work with. " :)

I owned two homes until recently. I bought the first 4 years ago, sold 3 weeks ago. I bought the second 15 months ago. By selling the first house only 3 weeks ago, did I just reset the clock by 15 months until I can claim the cap gains exclusion on my current home? Or am I reading this wrong?

You can exclude up to $250,000 of the gain (other than gain allocated to periods of non-qualified use) on the sale of your main home if all of the following are true.

• You meet the ownership test.
• You meet the use test.
• During the 2-year period ending on the date of the sale, you did not exclude gain from the sale of another home.

So, my thoughts now are, If I find a great property, rent my current house out,(1 year min?) in order to qualify it for a 1031? Or else I would have to wait the 2 years to avoid the cap gains, and hope the market is as strong as it is now...

Thoughts or opinions on that?

@Sergio B. - there was no talk of appraisal cost, because on a HELOC the bank will cover it. They make up for it with pre-payment penalties, and interest off of you during your draw period. They could possibly only do a "drive-by" and just use recent solds in your neighborhood, being a SFH.

Thank you for the updates! I am currently working on an owner/occ HELOC with BMO Harris, and in the middle of this process your outlining, but on the personal side. Glad I never put any property into LLC's yet, for this reason alone!

@Samson Kay - someone else can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe because it is a SFH its only based on market value, not income. That would only come into play with MF/commercial loans I believe.