All Forum Posts by: Ted Klein

@Jonathan Twombly @Ernesto Hernandez Two excellent posts, I will be reviewing the recommended data sources. Every time I see the lists of best markets, upon evaluation it does show most of the appreciation has occurred and has prevented me from taking action. Hopefully, I can find better markets that are not already at a peak.

@Dave Toelkes I had spoke with my tax preparer and this is what she has implied. I agree, this is basically a personal loan.  I wasn't sure how this would be handled since I will realize the benefit of the free upgrade. 

In regards to your construction modification, I believe you made the right decision. When we built our house, we had a Jacuzzi style tub installed  along side of our double shower, sadly enough, the tub was used twice in 10 years but yet required regular cleanings to keep the dust from collecting in it.

@Nathan Gesner I was originally against any changes to the property as the entire unit had just been renovated. Since the tenant is a good payer and has a regular cleaning service come in to clean the unit, I decided to work with her on the request as turnovers are costly and keeping a good tenant that is paying market rate should be a priority.

My first thought was to install a 4 piece fiberglass shower kit, however, I am not a big fan of the fiberglass kits and think that they look cheap. Given the finishes in the rest of the unit I didn't think the shower kit would be a good idea as any changes from the original should be of the same standard as the rest of the unit.

Speaking with the tenant I informed her that the kit would be $3800 installed but I wasn't a big fan and thought they looked cheap. Turns out she didn't like them either and preferred a ceramic tile shower stall. Since this is a BRRRR project, I suspected that this would improve the appraised value and would be a benefit to myself when I went to refinance.

I might add, that the unit has two full bathrooms and the master bath will be modified so I don't feel that there is a big issue with having a shower only in the master bath. Additionally, I have had my attorney draft a promissory note to ensure I have recourse in case of non payment or she passes before the balance was paid in full

The down payment is $4000 and the remainder would be paid in 9 months. This is extends past the term of the current lease but I figure if the tenant is paying for the improvement, then it is most likely that she will not be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

I don't know enough about the Trump tax plan yet so I wasn't sure how this would work out. If anyone has studied the new tax plan and has knowledge or recommendations on how this should be handled I'd appreciate the input.

@Ryan Murdock Luckily, this is not the type of handicap accessible shower you are thinking of. This is a standard shower pan with tile walls and a sliding shower door. The tenant is still very mobile but just didn't like stepping over the tub. I had already installed grab bars in the shower and those will be re-installed in the new shower to enhance safety. So there are no plans to remove the shower installation when she moves. 

Awhile back I posted about a tenant I have that has requested to make a to my property. Long story but to make it short, tenant has agreed to pay approximately $8400 to improve the shower stall. The bid for the improvement came in higher than expected, so I offered to carry a balance  if they agreed to pay a substantial down payment and to make monthly payments on the balance.

As it stands, the tenant will make a down payment of $4000 and I will pay the remainder with the tenant agreeing to pay an additional $500 per month until paid in full.

My question is how will this affect my taxes for this year? Technically I am loaning half of the money and being paid that amount back interest free. What startegies should I use to minimize tax implications and to get the most benefit.

I might add, the tenant is 84 years old and is retired, has been a great tenant and pays on time. Additionally, I have had a promissory note drafted with my attorney to ensure that I have some recourse if the tenant passes or fails to pay as agreed.

I have already consulted with my tax preparer, but wanted to ask the BP community to ensure that we get this right.

@Jason Sylka Jason welcome to the site. Your search tool is awesome and is a great idea. I've listened to all of the podcasts and all have great content, but you are right, it's hard to find the ones that are relevant to specific topics. Bookmark saved, will be using your tool. Thx.

@Zach Protzko @Lilla Horvath @Alex M. @Mindy Jensen @Joshua Dorkin
I know this is an old thread, but I had problems posting and I ran across this post so I thought I'd reply. I think you get about 15 minutes to edit a post before it is locked, after that, you can add a comment to the post but not sure how I did that. I think, I tried to edit and it said the time was expired and that I could only add a comment.

One of the things I have tried with not much success is writing the post in MS Word and then posting to the reply window. While is sounds like a good idea, my paste put each paragraph in reverse order from what it was written. Then trying to go back and revise the post within the reply window is a nightmare. It seems that the cursor in my situation wasn't in the correct place and any edits I made were in the wrong lines. I eventually got it to work with a great deal of fiddling around.

Any improvements to the posting window would be a big help as I have had trouble with this before. In fact, I have entirely given up on trying to post from my Android phone as I too managed to turn a post into unintelligible babble. Luckily, I caught it before I posted the final posting.
I see continuous improvements to the site and really like the most recent updates, but this posting thing really bothers me. Are there any plans to improve this or is there some tips to make this more user friendly?

@Heidi Wilson @Steven Gesis @Thomas S. 

Well I think I owe the BP community an update. In a previous post on this thread, I explained how my tenant wants to pay for a remodel to the shower in their unit. @JD Martin Since she is great tenant, never complains and always pays on time I wanted to accommodate her request. So when I talked to the tenant  @Richard Heine I requested that her son  be present to determine what level of finish they were wanting in the bathroom upgrade so as not to be seen as taking advantage of her. In our conversation, I offered to them, that if the estimate came back too high, that I'd be willing to carry some of the cost for a short term and that she could just pay an additional payment with the monthly rent until the entire balance was paid if that would help. 

So, I went to Home Depot and got an estimate on the remodel. The total price using the finish level requested was $6900 for labor and $1500 for materials for a total of $8400 before taxes. I submitted this for tenant approval and explained that if the amount was too high, for them to determine a reasonable amount that she could put down and a reasonable amount that she could afford to pay monthly to pay off the balance.

Then I waited about a week before I got an email back from the son stating that they would like to proceed with the remodel if she could pay $4000 down and pay an additional $500 per month with the rent until paid off. I mentioned to the son that we would need to sign an addendum to the lease for the additional payments.

I'm not exactly sure if this is the right approach but figured just letting them know they would they would be signing an agreement to repay in full. If anyone has any suggestions of how to handle this it would be greatly appreciated for advice here. I figure that it would take about 9-10 months to pay down the balance but there is only six months left on the current lease. I don't figure she is going anywhere after paying for the remodel. @Abby Paulson as your friend said, I figure she will be stuck in my home. While I initially didn’t target older tenants, I feel that with the proper screening there is definitely potential for great tenants that will likely stay for a long time.

My plan is to contact my lawyer tomorrow and discuss this with him and have him draw something up. Since she is 84, but still in relatively good health, I'd like to have a plan on how to handle this if she were to pass before the balance was paid.

Any advice or suggestions on how to move forward on this would be helpful.

@Heidi Wilson @Abby Paulson @Richard Heine @Steven Gesis

@Steven Gesis

Yeah, I was really looking for a tile guy but  thanks for the information wood floor people are easier to find. I will definitely check them out and give them a try