All Forum Posts by: Brad Wood

Grateful for some guidance BP community--

My first property is a row house with an English basement rental unit, that has its own certificate of occupancy and is registered with the State and has a tax ID. Given that I live in the primary unit, in short what I am trying to figure out is what I'm allowed to depreciate and how to separate this out for tax purposes. 

It's a HCOL area therefore the house cost $1M. I don't know how you are to calculate this for taxation purposes, but our appraisal lists the land value as $330k and I would say the breakdown between the units is 70% main unit (which we occupy) and 30% rental unit. 

I am listening to the BP book on tax strategies for the savvy real estate investor and would i'd like to understand is if I can separate out the kitchen, hvac, etc. to accelerate depreciation beyond the 27.5 years (or even if I can qualify for the 27.5 years given that it's also my primary residence. 

Hope this makes some semblance of sense. 

Thx,

Brad.

BP community,

I live in DC, own a duplex, and am planning to add to my portfolio. I have a full time job, so I'm looking for guidance on online or evening courses for the DMV real estate brokerage exams. Admittedly, I'm not sure if I need to take different courses for each, or if I just need to write the exam for each.

while I'm at it, I'll also ask if there are brokerages that only charge a nominal fee to hang your proverbial "hat" with them. I will maintain my full time job and this will primarily be to support my own investing. Hoping to get 1-2 multifamilies in the DMV andove out of my duplex into another in the next 5-7 years so would like access to mls and to make more compelling offers by avoiding buyers comssions. I do have a friend that will take me on, but I first wanted to assess options.

Thanks in advance,

Brad.

Very helpful, thanks Nick!

BP community,

Property is an English basement located in Washington, DC.

Is there a definitive guide to what you can and cannot charge your tenant for repairs/upkeep out of their security deposit? For example,

- my tenant made no effort to clean the apartment, floors were dirty, oven untouched fridge dirty.

- I had a former landlord charge me for replacement of lightbulbs, in my case the tenant had about 6-7 bulbs burnt out or missing.

- I had to re-caulk the tub as it was in rough shape. I did this myself, so the expense is probably only the caulking.

- The tenant moved mattresses and a dresser outside the door but still on my property and said 311 was called. They're still there despite me reaching out to the tenant and to 311. They're now in the way of where the new tenant will need to bring their belongings into the unit. If I have to call a private contractor to remove it, can/should this be charged?  

- I bought the house/apartment and inherited the outgoing tenant. I did not receive a key back for the rear lock so will need to replace it or have it re-keyed. Can this be charged? Or is this on me because I should have received a key for that door from the former owner?

Several questions and specific examples. Any help to the above would be appreciated, but i'm wondering if the government or someone has put together a list of what's permissible and what may not be. 

Thanks in advance!

-B.

This question is specific to Washington, DC, but related to rent increases. I have posted this in the local DC forum but wanted to check here as well.

I am a new home owner and have an english basement rental with its own CofO. The lease expires in June, therefore I am in a scramble to understand the rules around rent increases.

Current rent is $1550 and I would like to raise it to $1600. In fact, I may have gotten ahead of myself by already notifying the tenant of my intention to raise it $1600. This amounts to approximately a 3.2% rent increase, which is likely above the CPI+2% on the OTA site, however this is my only property and my understanding is that guidance may only apply to rent controlled properties.

So my question is, am I okay with that rent increase or do I need to stick within CPI+2%? In either event, I haven't "registered" my property with the city. Do I need to do that or anything to ensure our rental property can stand up against any challenge from the tenant (not that I have any reason to believe they have an issue or will take an issue at this stage). I only took possession this fall and only received the CoO a month ago so am unclear if I need to file any additional paperwork or go through steps with the city to ensure i'm not in violation of any ordinance.

Thanks for your guidance BP!

Originally posted by @Obi I.:

DMV Multifamily Meetup meets at the end of every month in dc

Thanks for the head's up Obi! When/where does this group meet? I'd love to attend.

I am a new home owner and have an english basement rental with its own CofO. The lease expires in June, therefore I am in a scramble to understand the rules around rent increases. 

Current rent is $1550 and I would like to raise it to $1600. In fact, I may have gotten ahead of myself by already notifying the tenant of my intention to raise it $1600. This amounts to approximately a 3.2% rent increase, which is likely above the CPI+2% on the OTA site, however this is my only property and my understanding is that guidance may only apply to rent controlled properties.

So my question is, am I okay with that rent increase or do I need to stick within CPI+2%? In either event, I haven't "registered" my property with the city. Do I need to do that or anything to ensure our rental property can stand up against any challenge from the tenant (not that I have any reason to believe they have an issue or will take an issue at this stage).

Thanks for your guidance BP!

I have a Chigo wall HVAC unit that needs servicing (heat isn't working) in my tenants property. Thankfully she has a second HVAC unit and a couple space heaters so this is timely but not an emergency during this snow fall. I'd be grateful for recommendations for a great HVAC professional in the DC area. This is the first issue I've run into since buying my first property so, more importantly, I want to build out my team of professionals to have on hand for this as well as future issues and maintenance. Kind regards, Brad.

I have bought my first property, a duplex with a rental unit in the basement. Any guidance on the best way to manage rent income and receipts for the tenant? I know one property is fairly simple but I would like to track and keep the funds separate and hope we'll have future growth so want to get off to a good start. Does anyone use quickbooks or what is a cheap and easy software to both track payments and expenses but also, if possible, to issue receipts to the tenant.

Thanks in advance. 

I would like to take the real estate exam in DC (and maybe MD and VA) mostly for my own real estate investing. Which, at this stage is negligible but I hope to buy at least a handful of properties over the next 5 years. I'd like to have the freedom to review MLS, to save money on a potential offer and to make an offer that I think is a good deal where I don't have to worry about my agent balking at it.

That said, is there a broker in the DC area that will take you on if you are only a part-time agent mostly doing it for yourself or another alternate strategy? I may also look to represent clients in the future so I'm not ruling this out but this isn't the driving factor.

Thanks!

-Brad.