All Forum Posts by: Ali Boone

I would first change your perception about a turnkey provider not having in-house property management as being a red flag. In my experience, the in-house PMs can be SO much worse than 3rd party PMs when it comes to turnkeys (shy of a few exceptions like REI Nation and MidSouth). When I work with people buying turnkeys, I beg them to interview at least a couple of other PMs in addition to the one that comes with the properties so they can be sure to use someone they feel good about. I can't think of a single thing that has caused more issues for turnkey buyers than them blindly trusting the PM that comes with a turnkey-- in-house or 3rd party. Just know that the only reason turnkey providers setup in-house PM companies is because the turnkey model requires them to offer it, so they just do it. That never means their good at PMing (again with those couple of exceptions).

With that out of the way, a good provider to work with kind of depends on what you're looking for, what your budget is, etc. Different providers offer different price ranges, property types, etc. Do you have any particular markets in mind? What's your budget?

I know the obvious reasons why someone would want to househack, but what are your specific reasons for wanting to do it? Is it just because you've heard it's a good way to invest, or is it because you wouldn't have enough money to do a 20% loan on a straight investment property (you can do FHA and such househacking with lower down payments)?

It absolutely makes sense to buy investment properties while renting yourself. In a lot of cases, especially in higher-priced markets, it's significantly smarter than buying a house for yourself. Have you read much of Robert Kiyosaki's stuff? He's a huge advocate of the idea that owning your own home is a liability while owning investment properties is an asset. Big difference between those two.

For what it's worth, I've been investing for 10+ years and I rent where I live in Los Angeles! I own both out-of-state properties from where I live, and I own a property just 1 mile from where I live. It's even a multi-family and I don't live in it! :)

Do you know what strategy you want to do? If not, that's okay.  Do you know what you're wanting to achieve with investing or what your interests are in it?

If you want to be less all over the place, you have to find some focus. Get more specific with what you're looking for and what you're trying to do. If I were to make a list, in order, of how to clear out all the noise (i.e. all the stuff that isn't directly helping you get where you want to go and making things more complicated), I'd say:

1. Decide what your goal with investing is. What do you ultimately want to achieve.

2. Research the various REI strategies, and narrow your options down to the one or ones that fit your goals.

3. If you have more than one strategy on that list, think of which one best fits your skill sets and interest levels. Pick that one, start there.

4. Learn everything you can about that strategy. What makes someone successful at it, what makes someone unsuccessful at it, what are the risks, and what are the numbers.

5. Once you know that, THEN go back out and look for properties because now you'll know what you're looking for, and what you're not looking for.

6. Pull the trigger.

You've got to paint yourself a path to go down. Otherwise you'll just keep taking in tons of information, further confusing yourself and not gaining any traction. Hope that helps!

I think LLCs in the beginning are a major cart before the horse situation. They aren't required to own a rental property (just get an umbrella insurance policy to cover you for liability), and when you're first getting started, there are so many other things you need to learn to be successful with rental properties that if you make that list of things astronomically longer by adding LLC drama into it, you're just going to slow yourself down from learning what you really need to learn.

Learn the basics first, get started, and then when the time is right or things have settled out, go back and research LLCs if you want. But you don't need it to start right now.

You can do it either way. If you go the turnkey route, you can avoid the time/effort to find and put a team together. Instead you can focus just on learning due diligence (the most important part of it all). If you learn solid due diligence, you can rock out a turnkey experience. If you go the team-building route, the perk there is you get to hand-pick each team member and feel really good about them. You still need to learn due diligence, but you might also save a few bucks going that route and getting a property maybe you couldn't get through a turnkey provider.

As far as finding a vetted one, the best thing to do is ask for referrals, and I also run a turnkeys Facebook group (can't post the link in here but you can search it on Facebook) where people talk about their experiences with different providers, who they like, etc.

There's no wrong answer to which route you go--you should just consider how much time and interest you have and pick based on that.

I'm looking to hire someone to work with me on content creation. Specifically, repurposing content from already existing videos and other mediums. Maybe it's you, or maybe you know a young person with the necessarily skills who wants to make some money on the side!

This would be a side gig, hours are 100% flexible, all work is remote (although there are opportunities for occasional in-person work, either local in LA (bonus) or willing to travel). Deliverables are monthly. This is technically an admin job, but room for creativity.

Required skills: simple video editing (clipping, trimming, captions), a basic knowledge of Instagram posts, and the ability to repurpose content (ex. pull useful standalone clips from videos, extract quotes, pull useful material from written pieces, etc.)

[social media engagement and management skills are NOT required]

I'm particularly interested in someone (likely younger) who is way more hip to the social media and content game than I am. While not required, it would be amazing for this person to be able to help guide me on future content creation, in addition to working on existing content. Someone with some level of creative eye for content would be fantastic. If someone has that, there could be additional income possibilities.

If someone is just getting started in REI and wants a great (paid) excuse to learn more, this job could be perfect. College interns, new investors, etc. Or maybe you're experienced in REI... that's okay too.

Please email me if interested and I'm happy to give more info about what the job entails!

[email protected]

Originally posted by @Pat L.:

@Ali Boone Enjoyed the 20 points you make. However, I don't believe the Property Tax deductions (Point 2.) on a Rental is restricted by the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Specifically Section 212 says:

I wrote the article in 2017 ;)

Originally posted by @Alicia Marks:

Since it's almost the end of the year, I wanted to focus our question on ideas and strategies that can help us make last minute changes to help lessen the tax burden, or to start the year with best practices.

Let's help our community with our best legally allowed options to save on taxes. Please make sure to note if it is specific to a state, asset class, or other specifics.

Want a quick list from one of our resident experts? @Ali Boone wrote a fantastic blog you can find here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Thanks so much for the shout out! :)