All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

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Expect preventative as well as remedial maintenance suggestions. I just paid for some HVAC work that wasn't strictly needed since the units were still working. But I sleep better at night knowing that they are checking on stuff like that and making recommendations about what should get done before it becomes a calamity.
Reports
Again, more than the bare minimum. The more detail and frequency, the better.
Not just what happened last month, but what's coming up in the near future - lease renewals and reminder letters that need to be sent out.
Details of repairs and maintenance so you have an idea of what exactly is being done. Then you can ask questions if needed.

Hi Jon,
initially I was peeved about that - where's all that great tax benefits that are supposed to accrue ? - but then I read the BawldGuy's posts and blogs and had a palm to forehead moment.
So now I'm a happy camper and I've rethought my strategy - it's not how much money you have, it's how much after-tax money you get to spend.
Still - having a cash cow that shows a paper profit after all possible deductions have been taken - I'll take one of those anyday if I can.

Kevin is correct on the income limits.
I - ahem - have a friend who is above the $150k income limit and can't get any benefit from filing a paper loss on his real estate.
So, tweak the depreciation (and amortization of start up and organization costs) to give you zero profit, but not negative. If it's negative, you're not getting any additional benefit and it's just being wasted.
If depreciation isn't used now, you can use it to offset your profit on selling the property later. That can give you a big chunk of tax free profit years from now.

Hi Chris,
so don't tell them you're the owner.

Tell them that you are helping manage the property for the owner - no need to explicitly state you are indeed the owner.

Ah -
I wish I had found BP when I was 19

You're already ahead of most folks, Best Wishes to you Sir.

I'd be OK in providing general info, but reluctant to provide specifics.
(I set up an LLC to provide some level of asset protection, and would prefer to avoid providing any chinks in the armour no matter how small.)

Depends on how much effort you want to put into shopping around.
My original insurance policy seemed high to me so I shopped around and tried to get some comparison costs.
To my surprise, I was quoted very similar premiums to what I was currently paying - so I figured "Dang, must be a reasonable price I'm getting after all."
..and I stayed with my original insurance company.

Hi John,
browse as much as you can on Bigger Pockets - the amount of useful, real world information is incredible.
Even the topics that seem old are full of great insights.
(I wish I had more time to be able to go through everything that's here.)

Sounds like a good plan to me -
pay for the immediate costs (repairs and mortgage, etc.)
save the rest for the next property

It doesn't have to be an over engineered solution, I've got everything going through a single (separated from personal) bank account.

The only areas to look at plugging and tightening would be on the repair costs themselves and seeking to incrementally increase the rents.

Whoah, two response from two of the Best. I'm honored.

You could be right - well I'm pretty sure your 100% right since you're light years ahead of where I am on the learning curve. I was specifically talking about what business entity to set up and how to protect assets with her. She didn't mention any limitations on what can be in an LLC. Just said that she chose to go with that option of covering herself.
Being the pedant that I am I specifically quizzed the insurance agent on this before I bought so it wasn't clear if this was a standard part of the Landlord package or extra.