All Forum Posts by: Yinna Wang

Hey Courtney, sorry for the late reply! I do have my accounts linked, as that’s pretty much standard procedure these days of you want auto transfer on any platform. Rental Hero has manual upload abilities too, for instance if your bank isn’t supported.

I’ve been emailing their support for any questions and they’ve been incredibly responsive and helpful. If you want you can try asking them about any of your concerns.

@Kunal Patel I tried the Rental Hero trial period, and liked it so I purchased the yearly for $119 (there is no monthly). While testing it out, I emailed back and forth with support, which was very responsive to all my questions. Later on I realized the guy I was emailing with is actually Steve Bjorkman, the CEO and Founder. So Kudos to him (if it was really him) for personally handling his support, great service. 

There's also a referral code to get you $10 off, if anyone decides to sign up. It's 11449.

@David Pere Is all of California expensive to survive in or are there some pockets that are cheaper? Also, would be great to know, how is Hawaii for investing?

Has anyone used RentalHero to track renovation costs and depreciation? I watched some Quickbooks online tutorials and it looks like a beast, but it does make the whole depreciation thing clear. Does your CPA just handle that if you use Rental Hero instead? 

Why did you put down so much more than 20%? 

Had to go through the same thing with my property in NJ. Got the leases and rent rolls, which revealed the least responsible tenant, late and delinquent on rents. We asked for the property to be delivered with that unit empty. Also we asked our lawyer to get us tenant Estopels. Make sure you get those so you’re not in for any surprises. NJ landlord-tenant laws are more lenient towards the landlord if you are owner occupying. If you live there, you’re a homeowner, and can pretty much kick out whoever you want. 

@Eamonn McElroy Thanks, gonna go with your reply format bc I like it. 

"Are you renting out rooms in your residence or are we talking clearly separated units (e.g. duplex, triplex, etc)?"

Clearly separated units. It's a fourplex, so we're going with 75/25 with the losses.

"Taxable income for self-employment taxes and taxable income for income taxes are two separate numbers. Rental losses can't reduce the former but can reduce the latter."

This is what my CPA said. I told him to run the numbers anyway.

There's also some concern that being a licensed re agent, owning half of a general contracting company, managing sub contractors and DIY-ing lot of the renovations, managing tenants, finances, and property management, somehow don't add up to a real estate professional status. 

If the IRS were to look into this, what kind of proof or documentation would they accept? 

Also, how does my material participation fit into this as well? I owned the other half of the general contracting company and did everything he did, just don't have a re license. 

Ok, update. First, I'd like to mention this is a house hacking scenario. We are doing our diligence in filing only the losses/gains of the rental portion of the property. Is there anything about this that would change the way the taxes were done?

Second, my income was 1099 income, meaning it is subject to self employment tax. I was told this was reported on Schedule C, and regardless of how much bottom line income I report, I still need to pay this tax on my earnings. 

Given these two issues, and the fact that our LLC was partnership 50/50, my CPA didn't think my spouses's real estate professional status could help offset my income. They offset my spouse's, but not mine.

If you're house hacking and one spouse does qualify as a real estate professional (license, active hours, etc) does the the fact that a portion of the property is your primary residence affect the ability to write off all loses on the other spouse's income? 

Thanks for all the responses.

I'm setting up a call with my CPA, will update. In the meantime, does anyone know (or is yourself) a good Real Estate Attorney, preferably in the north new jersey area?