All Forum Posts by: Trudy Pachon

Don't forget about the high property tax rates in TX as well. 

I would also be interested in learning more! Thanks 

BS in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior from University of CA San Diego, MS in Entomology University of CA Riverside, was working on my PhD in entomology but dropped out and then got a second Master's in Educational Technology after becoming a high school bio teacher. 

I was curious if there were any other entomologists here? So random, right? I studied and wrote on the ecology of flies! Wish I had more time to just be in and observe nature more. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of years trying to understand a single species of flies in one ecosystem in one place. Life is amazing. 

The neat thing about "doing" science is that it's a very creative endeavor and is all about solving problems. You start with nothing but maybe an observation or even an idea you got from a conversation or a reading and build up your own idea to test. It seems like it helped me with some skills around investing too. Gathering the data, testing an idea in the literature, then actually testing the idea in an experiment. My investments. And you learn to love spreadsheets...

So all you boys and girls out there, keep studying science! The skills are transferable in my opinion. 

Hi all,

Thanks for starting this thread! All the women posting sound so interesting, I wish I could chat with all of you. So much talent, education and skills! Love the support for women in this business. 

Ali, I used to live in your neck of the beach, over on Sunset off Lincoln in Venice. We got priced out with the whole extreme gentrification of Venice, and moved to WLA, where I bought my first house, near Cattaraugus and Venice Blvd. My kid went to Venice High. Now I'm in Escondido/San Diego area and am currently investing here. We have four units, one in San Diego, and a triplex here in Escondido which we are now in the depths of rehabbing. It's so much work.  We were going to hire a contractor until we saw the prices, so we're doing it on our own. Learning a lot, and making all kinds of mistakes (so far not too serious) and we think we'll have a nice little property when we get done. 

We used to have a rental in Savannah, GA, but recently sold it. I really didn't like not being able to see it and wasn't comfortable with the whole out of state thing. I think I"m strictly a local investor. 

I'm a biology/biotech teacher at a high school in San Diego and I sometimes can't believe I get paid to do such a fun job! I really like it most of the time. I have a couple of master's degrees, one in entomology, and one in instructional design. I also recently got my real estate license and have plans to do my own deals with it. My husband is a great partner and is very supportive. He's the handyman, and I usually come up with the plan and I also do the books and manage the money. It's a great partnership, but right now in the middle of this rehab, it's rough working full time and after work going to work on the property!

This is a a great topic! Haven't seen it much on here.  

@Frank S. can you let us know what happened? We are thinking about doing the same thing here in CA. We are too small to deal with all the costs and hassles of an LLC, but like the idea of a more professional presentation with a DBA and using separate everything for accounting purposes. Our accountant liked the idea too, although I think it might cost us a bit more in taxes. We think we are going to get an EIN number, though I'm not sure we need one.

Anyone have any additional insight or have experience in going the DBA route instead of the LLC?

@Alan Grobmeier Interesting to read about using a home warranty in your rentals. We have not had good experiences in our personal homes getting the warranty to pay up. Just wondering if you've ever had to deploy your warranty. Any way you could elaborate and share about any payouts they have done on a problem? Or which company you use? 

As far as OOS, I just sold my OOS property and couldn't be happier! I also just closed on a multi here in San Diego and am also pretty excited about it! Not a super high COC, but I can manage it myself and it's literally ten minutes away. I could have purchased several multis in other states with the money, but I guess I'm a control freak and really like having my property within driving distance. I can definitely sleep better at night. I plan to hold it for a while and I see San Diego as a good value over the long term. I bought an OK deal so even if there is a correction, I'll be fine. Just drove by yesterday and noticed the yard needed work. It's the little things :)

Just to add my $0.02, I just sold a property in Savannah GA and, although I love the area, selling that property was such a relief. Here's my brief tale of out of state woe.

I managed it myself from San Diego at first. Then the air conditioner leaked due to not draining and cleaning some condensation thing on it, it leaked all over the ceiling and the ceiling collapsed on my tenants' stuff (thank God not my tenants weren't home). It was such a simple thing that needed to be fixed, but I had no clue about it.  It did a bunch of damage and luckily my tenants had insurance. So I decided to get professional help!

My first property manager seemed great, good reviews etc. and everything was great for a while. But then something happened to him and when a tenant moved out suddenly, he didn't get on the turnover, he kept saying he was etc, didn't market it, blah blah. Anyway, it went vacant for FIVE MONTHS! It was funny (now) because I got so frustrated with him that I put an ad on Craigslist to try to rent it myself from San Diego. One girl called me and said there was a beehive on the front porch, so I had to call an exterminator. (Of course I couldn't trust my manager to do anything at that point.) He really did a crap job of doing the move out fixes but he did find someone to rent it finally when I told him I was going to take time off work to fly out and rent it myself. 

So I fired him and got another manager. He was OK, but the stress of owning the property and not being able to see and monitor it was not great. When the next tenants he placed in the property moved out (after only 6 months) and the house still needed a bunch of work, I decided to sell since the market was up there and I knew I could sell it "as is". 

What I learned was: 

-no one will care for my property like I do

-people seem great at first, but then stuff happens, management changes and things can get bad quick

-to sleep well at night, I need to know I don't have raccoons, bees or meth labs in my property due to poor management or lack of oversight

-buying local is expensive, but has more value to me because I can manage my own property and can make sure it's being cared for

-travel is expensive-I owned property for 10 years and went out there three times. It will kill your profits. Every time I went, I found things that needed to be done. 

Good luck with whatever you decide. Only you can make the right decision, but I wanted to share my experience with you!

Oh, for some reason I read July 2014. Since you've been in the house for less than a year, scratch the owner occupied thing above.

Another thing to think about is the taxes. 

As a non-owner occupied, you will pay capital gains when you sell unless you've lived in the property for two of the last five years. If it's owner occupied, no taxes on sale! Kinda nice. Sounds like you might break even with the appreciation you have. 

The other thing to think about is the depreciation. Nice on the taxes when you're taking it, but when you sell, you'll have to pay taxes back on that. It can be very substantial. We got a big surprise one year after we had rented out our house for a few years and then sold it. Not in a good way!

You can 1031 the house if you decide to rent it and avoid these taxes, but it's a pain in the butt and difficult, but doable. Of course, you won't be getting any cash out if you do that, you'll be buying another property. But it sounds like that's what you're wanting to do anyway. 

It's actually a good problem you have. Good luck in your move and decision!

The numbers don't lie. Pitbulls are statistically more likely to cause injury or death-especially to other animals. They have a high prey drive. There are obviously exceptions. Proceed with caution and be aware of the risks involved. 

http://www.livescience.com/27145-are-pit-bulls-dangerous.html