All Forum Posts by: Bradley Chapple

Thanks, @Bob S.. Looks like I'm probably calling Empire. :-P

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a turnover in my Kansas City, MO property (SFH/LTR) and looking for a carpet guy or gal to match and replace some carpet in 3 bedrooms.

Could someone do me a favor and provide some recommendations?

Thank you!

Awesome! Thank you,@Amanda Lizana!

Hey, everyone! TGIF!

I purchased my first out-of-state property in KC, MO not long ago, and I'm looking for a handyperson or a carpenter to help rebuild a couple of small decks/patios at the property, and maybe a couple of other small things.

If someone has a referral, please let me know.

Thanks!

Brad

Thank you @Ashish Acharya. Although this is disappointing, I feel much better now that I have a second opinion.

My wife inherited some property waaaaaaay back in 1994 when the home was worth next to nothing (let's say $75k, for the sake of putting a number on it). It became her primary residence for a very long time.

Fast forward almost 30 years and the house is worth $400k+. We recently moved, turned the home into a rental, and refinanced it to a 30-year fixed.

My accountant recently requested the value of the home in 1994 to establish the cost basis for depreciation purposes.

This doesn't seem right to me. Although I'll readily admit that I know very little about this stuff, I always assumed the cost basis would be based on the value of the property at the time it was placed into service, not the time that it was originally acquired. Am I missing something? Why would the original value at the time of acquisition be needed? Does this value get plugged into a formula of some kind to establish the cost basis, or does the value of the property in 1994 ($75k) become the cost basis?

@Xavier Hamblin

Another vote for Cozy. It’s what I use for the one property we self-manage.

Cozy does a lot more than that, though. You can also use it to list a vacant property and it will syndicate the listing to various other sites (for free). They can also process applications, background and credit checks and doesn’t charge the landlord for these services. Cozy does charge the applicant what I would consider a very fair and reasonable fee.

I certainly have.

In fact, I plan to own at least one SFR in Jacksonville, FL. Not only is it a great market for appreciation, but I could also leverage its proximity to write off parts of my trip as a business expense while also visiting some friends and family.

For the record, though, I don't think I'd want my entire portfolio to be down there. Call me risk-averse or just one of those weirdos who believes in climate change (man-made or otherwise), rising sea levels, etc., so in an attempt to diversify things a bit, I also plan to acquire some investment properties in the midwest.

Right now I'm researching areas in and around Kansas City, Tulsa, Indianapolis, and Columbus. There are plenty of great options out there at the moment, and while I'm interested in creating a modest monthly income stream, I'm even more interested in appreciation due to its wealth-building potential.

@Tarrek El-Saadi

The bank is going to do whatever it takes to increase the likelihood that they’ll get back the money they’ve loaned you. If you stop making payments on the loan, the bank doesn’t care about the property. They care about getting back their money. That’s why when you take out a mortgage to buy a property, the property is being used as collateral. When the bank takes the property, they’ll eventually auction it off to recoup the money they loaned you.

Banks will rarely loan up to the full appraised value of the property because they want to take into account variables such a bad appraisal, damage to the property, or a drop in the housing market, etc.

Banks will sometimes make exceptions with your primary residence (up to 100% LTV), because people will typically do whatever it takes to avoid being kicked out of their own home. It's been proven that people will typically give up their investment properties to the bank before giving up the roof over their own heads, which is why you'll rarely see banks doing cash outs and HELOCs beyond 80% LTV on investment properties.

@Nicholas Conte

Like @Joseph Schweizer said, buying from a turnkey provider might be the best thing for your situation, at least on your first investment. It’s a pricey medicine for analysis paralysis, but quite effective it seems.

But if you’d rather not go that route and do more of it on your own, here’s another suggestion... Obviously you’ll still need a property manager since you’ll be unreachable for extended periods, but when you’re looking for an investment, try to get the newest, nicest three-bedroom house you can afford, in the best neighborhood, with the lowest crime and the highest rated schools.

You’d still need to run the numbers to make sure things still cash flows, but by getting into an “A+” to “A-“ neighborhood, you’ll attract better tenants who are willing to pay a premium to live someplace nice, which means they’ll probably take care of the place so that it will stay nice. Your maintenance calls will be fewer, your turnovers will be less expensive, and your property is more likely to see greater appreciation over time. Yes, this requires more cash to get started due to needing a larger down payment, but in my opinion you’re going to be better off focusing on quality instead of quantity.