All Forum Posts by: Tom Shepard

welcome to Bigger Pockets @DaVon Brooks!

I'm an investor in Nashville always looking for a good deal.  I'm a buy and hold guy, fairly new to investing myself.  I've been in Nashville 11 years and travel all over town for my day job, so I have some insight into most areas of town.

Nashville's a pretty tight market, but still some deals to be found, so be prepared to look hard!  Good luck, let me know how I can help.

welcome to BP @David Paul !

I'm near Nashville also, and would like to hear from you when you are ready to wholesale a flip.  Retail real estate in Nashville is just too expensive!  I'm a buy and hold guy.  

I own a condo near a university in another TN city. You won't have much vacancy issue, BUT those payments and that rent are problematic. Between taxes, insurance, and the HOA you will be feeding this cash eater every month above and beyond the rent even after your son graduates.

I would keep looking, Nashville's expensive, but you can still find something, and you've got until August I presume?

Oh, and in August we will start a 12 mo lease so no worries about next summer...hopefully!

Thanks @Marian Smith 

Reading the IRS pub.

Yes, we are leasing to students for the fall semester.  These condos are hard to come by and when it came up we felt we should buy now rather than wait and see if it lasted.  Put an ad on postlets.com yesterday for summer rental and had our first inquiry today.  Don't know why but having someone reply made me nervous.  How do you tell if it's a scam?  Well, I googled the name and found that they are someone local who seems like maybe a grad student at least by their twitter account info...so I will be calling them tomorrow to see about it a summer lease!  Then it will be a non-issue.  

I did read about the make ready prior to renting going toward your cost basis, BUT I also read somewhere about "start up" costs for your real estate business being expenses. A little confusing and somewhat grey area, but we are not really talking about a lot of rehab costs, some cleaners and some paint. More concerned about the other expenses such as HOA, taxes, etc. BUT according to what I read in the IRS pub, if we have an ad, and have inquiries and are screening tenants, we should be good to go now! Will still check with the CPA to be sure! :)

Thanks @John Matthews @Marian Smith and @Bryan N. 

I will look into all of those resources.

Its definitely more "make ready" than rehab.  We are replacing bedroom carpets (rest is hardwood), had to do some heavy duty scraping (travertine tile floor and the goobers that did the grout did not wipe the excess off the tile at all) and deep cleaning in the bathroom (tub was BLACK on the bottom!) .  We are also painting and replacing the fridge, its dead and our inspector said not worth fixing.  Also will be buying a washer and dryer as their are hookups and most of the rentals in our building come with it.  We realize the washer, dryer, fridge and carpet will have to be depreciated, not taken as expense in this year.  

We actually have a signed least to begin in August, and I am probably going to list on CL for summer rental, but not sure we really want to deal with turnover after three months...

Will consult the resources you all so kindly sent, and will talk to my CPA.

My main concern is can we claim the HOA ($130/mo), insurance ($35/mo), and utilities during our time before tenants move in. I don't see how it would be different from if you had a tenant move out and it took some time to find a tenant. During vacancy I would think its all deductable against any income you make on the rental.

Thanks guys! 

great advice here from @jasonmark and others.  From the party standpoint our lease actually spells out that they are prohibited and that 10 or more people constitutes a party (In addition to residents).  We also have a specific clause that prohibits kegs on the property.  Includes a $300 fine if caught with one.  Got the idea for both of those clauses from when my older daughter rented from a large apartment rental company.  Plus plus on getting the parents as guarantors.  Just look at student income and most won't qualify, so easy to get the parents to sign on the line.

One last bit.  Decide if you want pets or not.  We don't allow them, and you would think that's not something college students would have anyway? But some of them want to get out of the dorm so they can have a puppy or kitten that will then use your property as their potty training room! 

Just closed on a condo yesterday and trying to figure out if the expenses incurred during rehab are deductable. Not talking about the expense of the rehab, but what about the HOA, taxes, insurance, etc. have renters lined up for a couple months from now but wasn't sure if the usual expenses that will end up being paid for from the rent were deductible as expense during this time when it's not yet rented.

Kraft CPAs in Nashville has at least one person that has specialty in real estate.  I would think local would know any local laws regs and issues, in addition to knowing exactly who you are working with.

@devanmcclish

[email protected]

Hugh Nelson is a builder and GC in Nashville and a friend of mine.  I've never worked with him but I have seen his work and it's very nice!  And he's a great guy.

You can check out their website as well.  

I dropped him a note just now and said if he heard from somebody dropping my name it was legit.