All Forum Posts by: Tim Porsche

Hi everyone, I have a quick tax question I'm looking for some guidance on regarding a duplex. The top unit is rented, and I am currently moving into the bottom unit. I plan to do a few upgrades (mostly cosmetic) to the unit I'll be moving into, and I also want to finish the basement and add a second bedroom to it as well as a second room that can be used for an office, entertainment room, gaming room, etc. 

My question is, since I am living in this unit, should I be saving the receipts for all the things I purchase and the work I have done to this unit, as I plan to rent it out in about two years from now? Or can these items not be deducted since I will have performed the upgrades while living there? Thanks in advance for any advice. 

Hi All,

I purchased a duplex back in October of 2015, and will be moving into the downstairs unit within a week. I started to move my things in a few days ago, and noticed there was a leak in the ceiling of my bedroom. This must have occurred the week prior when I was on vacation.

Long story short, I had a plumber come out to take apart the ceiling and find and fix the leak. He said it was due to the a pipe not being properly wiped down when a flux was added to a newly installed bathroom upstairs. So apparently whoever installed the upstairs bathroom didn't do a good job.

Anyway, my question is, do I have any recourse to have whoever installed that bathroom pay the bill to fix the work that they did that caused the leak? Or am I stuck with the bill on this one? I have homeowner's insurance, but the deductible is $1,000 and I doubt the bill will come to more than that. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 Okay sounds good...I am giving the tenant until this Monday to pay the remainder or rent in full. If it is not payed by that time, I will give a notice to pay rent or quit on Tuesday. You are right, I should have given the notice to Pay Rent or Quit right away after I only received a partial payment at the beginning of the month. Rookie mistake I will not make again. 

@Kyle J. Thanks for the reply. This would be my first eviction so I'm not sure quite what to expect. From what I understand, the procedure is to give a notice to pay rent or quit, give the tenant 7 days to pay in full, and not accept any partial payments. If 7 days go by then I go to the courthouse and file the eviction, then deliver the papers to the tenant correct? 

How much does a typical eviction like this end up costing? How long does it typically take from the date you filed an eviction, until you actually have the tenant physically removed if it comes to that? Has anyone had success simply offering cash for keys if the tenant moves out by a certain date and would you recommend something like that in this case?

@Brittaney Woods Thanks for the reply. Would you advise to file for eviction by February 1st if rent is not made current by  that time? The tenant is on a month to month lease, and while I notified the tenant 90 days ago that they would need to move out by March 1st, I have no sent the official 30 day notice to vacate yet. 

Hey all, looking for some advice on how to proceed with a situation with a tenant. I purchased a duplex a few months ago that is fully rented out, with the intent to move into the bottom unit on March 1st. I notified the tenant 90 days before to give them plenty of time to prepare. They were current on their rent up until January's rent was due. They send me a check for half of the rent on January 1st for me to deposit right away, and asked me to wait until the 18th to deposit the second check as they had insufficient money in their account. I cashed the check on the 19th and just saw on the 22nd that it bounced and I got hit with a $15 fee by the bank. I texted the tenant and told  them what happened but have not heard anything from them yet. My question is, what do I do if after reaching out a few more times, this tenant remains unresponsive? I was planning to give an official 30 day notice to vacate on February 1st, but if they simply don't pay rent and don't respond what do I do? Should I start filing for eviction on March 1st in that case, or sooner? Any advice greatly appreciated. The goal is to get this tenant out by March 1st with as little lose of rent and money as possible. 

So I was just reading through the book Battle Cry of Freedom by James Mcpherson about the Civil War, and came across this section and thought it was interesting how many people's mindset in the early years of our country seems to have been similar in some ways to the folks here at BP who are pursing or have achieved financial freedom :).  Just thought I would pass it on for anyone interested in American history. 

"Although the working poor of New York would explode into the worst riot of American history in 1863, these people did not provide the cutting edge of labor protest in the antebellum era. It was not so much the level of wages as the very concept of wages itself that fueled much of this protest. Wage labor was a form of dependency that seemed to contradict the republican principles on which the country had been founded. The core of republicanism was liberty, a precious but precarious birthright constantly threatened by corrupt manipulations of power. The philosopher of republicanism, Thomas Jefferson, had defined the essence of liberty as independence, which required the ownership of productive property. A man dependent on others for a living could never be truly free, nor could a dependent class constitute the basis of a republican government. Women, children, and slaves were dependent; that defined them out of the polity of republican freemen. Wage laborers were also dependent; that was why Jefferson feared the development of industrial capitalism with its need for wage laborers. Jefferson envisaged an ideal America of farmers and artisan producers who owned their means of production and depended on no man for a living. But the American economy did not develop that way." - James Mcpherson, Battle Cry of Freedom 

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

@Kris Haskins

@Marc M.Thanks for the replies everyone, lots of good advice there. Since the setup and maintenance fees can be fairly expensive for a self directed ira or 401k, and I am not self employed, would I be better off just rolling the money over into my new employer's 401k plan and be done with it? Or alternatively, maybe as much as I would hate to do it, I would be better off just taking the early withdrawal fee and then being able to invest it however I want? I'd much prefer to invest the money how I want, instead of what my company's 401k plan is set up for, but at the same time I don't want to get hit with a bunch of fees.

Hi All,

I currently have a little over $6,000 in a 401k from one company, and a Roth IRA from a second company. I no longer work for either company, and would like to move that money into a self-directed IRA and invest it in P2P loans. I'm pretty much clueless on how to accomplish this though, and have a few questions I'd appreciate your input on.

1. What kind of setup fees would I be looking at for creating a self-directed IRA? Would it be worth it for only $6,000?

2. Are there any annual management fees associated with most self-directed IRAs? If so how much would I be looking at paying for that?

3. Is there a better alternative besides a self-directed IRA to do what I want to do with the money? Early withdrawal would cost me about 20% I believe so I don't really want to do that.

4. If I set up a self-directed IRA account, who would you recommend I contact to set it up?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

@Jeff Kehl

Thanks! That is exactly what I was looking for, just a general rule of thumb to go by.