All Forum Posts by: Tatiana Viviano

My advice is 1041 exchange out. It will take you a long time to recover this negative of a cash flow. (They say REPS would be one way on some forums. this is reaching 750 hours qualifying you for real estate professional status. And you are offsetting a W-2 income in the household. Or 500 hrs as STR)

Took a 40k hit when I sold my permitted Cape Coral lot last year unbuilt. Lots of issues from taking too long with builder and permits and loosing funding to bad info from property manager about my STR. My fault for not speaking to more managers before purchasing lot. Home Insurance was very expensive due to hurricane.

Builder wouldn't let me transfer permit and build to another investor. So the investor had to start all over again. And so did I. I'm back at the starting point again with my real estate investing trying to build equity to purchase again. But I am probably steering away from Turnkey companies and working specifically with STR companies.

I know RTR is a great company but you REALLY have to vet out the builders and the rental projections. Covid run up on prices made this area volatile in the short term.

I have only completed 5 full rehabs  and my husband is a commercial estimator but this we feel is good general advice:

Getting a very good understanding of repair and replacement costs yourself so you can estimate is very important.  It takes time to get good at estimating and you can borrow a friend/relative with a good solid knowledge to do walk through with you. 

Also, if you throw a question at a contractor for something you aren't sure of most will give you a good general idea. Pick your materials well in advance and prepare for long lead times for certain things. ( I start orders as soon on materials that take awhile as soon as inspection period ends like typically windows, sliding doors, cabinetry and appliances)

I took a ton of pics at walkthroughs to reference as I write estimate and then allow a 10% buffer. I do this if I "GC" myself with subs. For your first house make a 15% buffer. 

If you are using a GC send photos and list of repairs to them. A good one can give you a ballpark. They can't see through walls so it's important to know what pics/video to take. Always get pic of utilities and electrical box too.  

I do not send contractors out to give estimates for houses I haven't received an accepted offer on. If something is super unsure I put it in my estimate just in case. Nothing worse than losing a great contractor because you sent them to 5 houses you didn't get an accepted offer on they will stop answering texts/calls. Good ones are worth their weight in gold and I value their time so they value mine.

Update! I spoke with my tax strategist after reading all of these and realized I had the setup completely wrong. We went back through my RE LLC activities and he showed me where my material participation actually is. It isn't in the photography at all but all the other activity I do with my LLC at the properties and in the real estate I currently own I just hadn't seperated them out. Going through backlogs I do qualify. Thank god I kept good records with Life Cycle app and mileage app. It shows boots on ground proof of all my activity and "material Participation"

What do you feel would be a good tax advantageous move when I receive the money off the streets from previous investment. Should be about a month from now, so I have to be in December to start making moves. Should I just go STR with the current LLC I have? Simplest course of action? Or is there another way to spin this so that I can offset my husband's W-2 income and my 1099?

So I had consider doing long-term rentals this year however, I don’t think that will help me with reps status. I don’t think I can matriculate 750 hours on a rental property between now and December. Do you have any other recommendations?

So I would consider doing long-term rentals this year however, I don’t think that will help me with reps status. I don’t think I can matriculate 750 hours on a rental property between now and December. Do you have any other recommendations?

And are you sure That meeting up with the different agents homeowners and flippers when I go there to shoot does not count towards my 750 hours? I was told that I don’t necessarily have to own property in order to be considered reps status. I was told that I could be rendering services for others in real estate as long as they were in acquisitions, construction, etc. In other words providing a service? Is this not correct? I have heard that it is sort of a gray area and I tend to stay away from the gray areas of tax law. 

So another part of this is that I own an LLC that does short term real estate, long-term real estate and flips. None of which I have right now. I only possess land with a permit on it currently. But it is all formed and ready. I've had that for about a year as I have tried to build out in Florida, which unfortunately doesn't look like it's gonna happen with the new lending parameters. my tax strategist is recommending that my real estate services sole proprietorship work alongside of it. In other words, contracting services from me/the source of proprietorship

Last September while going through a transition to more passive real estate I started doing real estate photography for a photography company 1099. We became very busy this year and I started making great connections with alot of agents, builders and flippers. I get to see houses before they are listed and saw an opportunity to bird dog a bit as my money is out on the streets for a build in FL currently. I also refer some of my contractors for repairs.

I began sending info to flippers for upcoming rehabs as well as my general observations on repairs. I began networking a bit more and began building my own client base. Many of the houses I visit between the Jersey Shore and Philadelphia have STR potential and I spent some time with agents familiar in it going through numbers etc.

I spoke with my tax strategist and he told me so long as I meet 750 hours of shooting properties and meeting with agents or owners I actually qualify for real estate professional status! I was blown away! I am providing a service in "real property" for Aquistions, rentals, redevelopment and management as stated by the IRS for qualifications. Conversion maybe as well? I can then offset my husbands W2 Income as well as my own. We entered a higher bracket this year so this would be tremendously helpful. I also checked with another accountant and he agreed it can be obtained.

!! NOTE!! I will have to make public notice that I am doing business as a sole proprietorship under, " __<whathaveyou>__ Real Estate Services"  and   I will of course have to keep detailed log books and be sure to log the time driving from my home office to each property I shoot, but looking at my year average looks like I could definitely hit 750 hrs. between January and December this year.

Has anyone found themselves reaching REPS status doing other services for real estate instead of "in" real estate? As 1099?

I welcome any advice as I want to do this correctly. Part of me wanted to throw in a small quick flip this year to seal the deal. But I am very busy now and don't want to have to do that if I don't have to.

CHeck out Outdoorsy as well. They deal mostly with RV rental but I used to rent out my travel trailer as a "guest house" to some peoples shore homes and the like. I would go park it for the week then pickup. Some people did the same with pop up like tents on there. Some advertised there RV  but it was not to be towed. It was "camp ready" pop on there and check it out.