All Forum Posts by: Bob Langworthy

Like Nathan said, if they're willing to cheat one way, they are probably willing to cheat in other ways. I wouldn't trust them and wouldn't allow a contractor to begin work until they have given you a W-9. A legitimate business person isn't trying to cheat on taxes.

Congratulations on your first property! Excel is a great program to use. A simple solution would be to use separate columns for the separate properties and another column for the totals. It would be something like this: Column A: labels for your rows (income, advertising, repairs, landscaping, etc.) Column B: Property 1 Column C: Property 2 Column D: Property 3 Column E: Totals. You can use a formula to add across like: =sum(B2:D2) You can then create formulas to sum your expenses, calculate net income, and calculate any other metrics that are meaningful to you. YouTube is filled with useful tutorials. A google search might turn up an Excel template that you could use. Hope this helps!

You might want to check with a local networking group. There may be a BNI chapter in your area. Your local chamber of commerce may have a list of bookkeepers as well.

I haven't seen property tax rates in Maine lowered due to the purchase price of the property. As others have said, the municipality wants to have a contemporaneous estimate of all properties. This gives the perception of fairness and allows them to adjust the mil rate to raise or (rarely) lower the taxes. Typically the only time you can get an adjustment to your property taxes is immediately after the re-evaluation when there may be a period of time given for property owners to dispute the new value.

John Park , congratulations on purchasing two profitable properties. Regarding taxes, you will owe taxes on your net income. Income - property taxes - mortgage interest - depreciation - a host of other potential expenses is your net income. It's different than your cash flow which is the number that you see as your bank account balance grows. You should talk to your accountant so that they can give you an estimate of how much you will owe. Regarding the cash flow, I would set aside funds for the repair work you know you need to do and a little extra for the unforeseen and put the rest into your next deal. For my 4-office commercial building, I like to keep $10k in the checking account to cover "emergency" expenses. All major systems and structural elements are up to date, so I'm not saving up for a furnace, roof, etc. Keep up the good work!

It's worth noting that there can be a significant cost to a good cost seg study. I have never seen a true cost seg done on a SFH, only on commercial real estate or large multi-family.

I would hope that your accountant has gotten back to you by now with a satisfactory answer.

And if you're looking at tax savings on the withdrawal from your IRA, be sure to review the changes that Congress will be finalizing soon. You may also consider splitting the withdrawal between 2017 & 2018.

And I have to agree with @Levi T., the dignity of a job is a wonderful opportunity to provide for someone. 

I agree with Tim. More important than the type of system you use is your commitment to use it regularly. As long as you update an Excel spreadsheet regularly, it will provide you and your accountant with all the information that you need.

Is this a hypothetical or an actual situation? If it's an actual situation it may be helpful for you to share your numbers. That will allow people to give you a more informed opinion. Without knowing any facts, I would say put the 20% down. You will have both a lower monthly payment and no PMI.

Congratulations and welcome to the community! I have known people to do very well with multi families in Lewiston and also to struggle. Tenant screening is key! And be sure to make good use of BP.