All Forum Posts by: Soh Tanaka

In my opinion, if you decided to purchase your first deal without any entities, it's not a big mistake, if at all. However, if you think too much and ended up not buying anything or over complicate your asset protection, that could be a big mistake.  

Rental property in IL can make sense. However, I'm not a big fan of this state. Losing population, losing jobs, high property taxes, etc. Next property will be out of state.

I'm not an expert on this field, but generally speaking, I don't think brand matters that much. I used different brands and haven't really noticed much difference. I would avoid expensive paint though, such as Benjamin Moore. I use Navajo white for the wall.

In a way, everything you need to do with QuickBooks can be done with Excel, but you need to be reasonably good with Excel and spend some time creating a nice file. (Just to be fair, even if you decide to go with QuickBooks, you probably need to buy a book or two to become good with it) One nice thing about QuickBooks is the ability to make reports that you can customize. 

I use ClearNow. Money gets taken out from the tenant's account automatically and will be deposited to my account automatically also. I love it, but it's a bit pricey ($15 for the 1st property, and $2 each from the 2nd property). I'm in the process of changing all my tenants to Cozy, which is free! I hope this helps.

I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but I think the clock starts ticking once whatever you are acquiring is placed in service for your business. Since you didn't have any business from this property in 2015, I think the depreciation starts in 2016.  

Hi Allan,

It depends on the content, but generally speaking, there's no reason for you to spend that kind of money for the education, especially because you just started. I would suggest to invest your time and your mind by reading contents in this website, books (if you go to your local library, it's free!), going to your local investment club, etc. I wish you the best!  

Jason,

Congratulation on your first investment property! Regarding to the rent correction, I use ClearNow. Money gets taken out from the tenant's account automatically and will be deposited to my account automatically also. I love it, but it's a bit pricey ($15!) I'm in the process of changing all my tenants to Cozy, which is free! I hope this helps.

Soh