All Forum Posts by: Chin P.

Question for those landlords operating in Maryland. I understand that the Maryland Security Deposit Law requires landlords who collect security deposits to deposit the funds collected, within 30 days of receipt, into an interest-bearing escrow account that is used exclusively for security deposits. Which companies do you use to hold your security deposits? Also, I understand that you're required to pay 3% interest on the security deposit. I assume you're making this up out of your own pocket because no bank account I could put a security deposit in pays 3% now a days, right?

Hi John,

Sorry to hear you are having a disappointing experience.  I'm new, so can't offer real estate specific advice.  

But your karaoke job got me thinking.  I'm sure losing what money you get from it would hurt considering the way you describe your financial situation.  Is it significant or comparable to say minimum wage?  If karaoke is not too much income, maybe hunt for opportunities to replacr those hours with a part time gig related to some area of real estate investment where you are learning a part of the business while earning a bit for your time.  

Lots of industries work like that, music, entertainment, etc.  Try to find something that allows you to learn and perhaps have a potential to open the door to connections.  It's almost like a pre-step to your initial suggestion of work for 50%.  

Anyway, maybe it's a crazy suggestion but thought that I'd offer as a potential avenue to make the 15-20 hours you spend on karaoke more real estate relevant while still earning a little.

Thanks for the follow up info. A blog post would be interesting in case any of us have to go through that process later on. Good luck.

It's not all that hard using software like turbo tax plus reading the IRS Publication plus some googling. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself you could split the baby and use a CPA for the first year or two, ask lots of questions and get all the detailed forms and schedules he or she is filing, and then switch to doing it yourself later on. If you have a high volume or don't like doing taxes it makes sense to hire someone. IRS used to be much more customer friendly and you could call their help line and have a good chance of getting an IRS employee working whatever area you had a question on answer some questions, but it's been years since I've had to do that and I believe their customer service is hurting dramatically with recent budget cuts. So I'm guessing it's much harder to get that now a days but I don't know. You could always try.