All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I did a typical 30 year conventional mortgage putting 20% down.  Renovations happened when I was able to save up the money to do them.  But when I bought the house, I did have intentions of using it as a rental once I moved out.  There was no timeline of when I'd move out though, but it ended up being only 2 or so years.

My first deal was a single family home that I purchased in early 2016 and lived in until Mid 2018.  The house I purchased just needed cosmetic upgrades throughout, and I performed those while living in it, with the exception of  the kitchen.  I moved in with my girlfriend (now wife) to renovate the kitchen.  I began renting it out in December of 2018, and recently, my tenant has agreed to sign a new lease!

One of the things I did was to research what software options were available to help me out.  As a first time landlord, having software to help me collect rents online, list properties, perform budgeting, background checks, etc., was a stress reducer due to the already in place structure the software provided.  The thing that was most worrisome for me was just listing my property and coordinating showings so I could put someone in there ASAP.

Also, shout out to @Stace Caseria, while this is a business, you do need to take care of your customers and find the balance between the two.

@Rafaella Almeida, one thing to remember about a HELOC loan is that most banks will only go to up to a certain LTV on your house, so you will still have equity in it. I just applied and received a HELOC at a 70% LTV. Before my HELOC, my LTV on my current property was 55% after my appraisal, so that gave me about 15% of equity in the house that I could use for the HELOC. The remaining 30% is still equity I own. I say this because from a risk standpoint, that is still quite a bit of equity for me in the house. Could the housing market drop like it did in 2008 and I loose that 30%, yes. But events like that aren't very common. I would assume that most banks won't allow you to go to 100% LTV, they will probably make sure you still have some equity left in the house.

Growing up, there was a house in my neighborhood that made some small enclosures and purchased some goats.  Neighbors of this particular house were upset and started to argue over it (not sure if lawsuits were filed or complaints filed to the county).  In any case, it was determined that the land was not zoned for farm animals and therefore, the goats had to leave.  We also lived in a neighborhood where all the lots were over 1+ acre in size.  

I would check with your local zoning laws to see if getting a chicken coop is even allowed (is the land zoned for farming/farm animals).  It could be a quick answer, with support from the law, to not allow the chicken coop from being built without you looking like the bad guy.

You can always pay more, but you cannot pay less.  So if, for some reason, you are unable to make your payments on a 15 year mortgage, a bank isn't going to like it when you start to pay them less money.  On a 30 year mortgage, you can always pay more than your required payment.  My recommendation, always get a 30 year, and if you want, make monthly payments as it it were a 15 year mortgage.

I would recommend getting a degree in either Accounting or Finance.  A lot of investing comes down to the numbers, and financial numbers at that.  Having this foundation of understanding will put you ahead when it comes to analyzing deals and budgeting.  I personally have a degree in finance and it has made it easy for me when I was analyzing my first deal.

Bonus points if you decide to get a degree in Accounting with an emphasis on taxes.

Regarding the bold section, why do you say that? Is it just because new investors don't have enough assets to protect? Or is there something else that would eliminate the protections of an LLC?

@Michael Plaks, Agree that using a business account for personal use does not make it deductible (additionally could potentially pierce the corporate barrier).  But I wouldn't be buying the more expensive version of TurboTax (the one for rental properties which I think is their second most expensive option) if it weren't for the rental property I currently have.  I could use the lowest cost option for TurboTax if it weren't for my real estate investment.  Which is the base of the question, since there is a split cost here between personal expense and business expense.

@Jake Hottenrott, thanks, that was the answer I was looking for.  Appreciate it.