All Forum Posts by: Collin Hays

 Unless you are planning to surveil your guests, I don’t know what purpose it would serve. 

Ring. But I wouldn’t put one on a rental. 

For a few rentals, I would recommend sticking with VRBO. If you really want direct bookings, I recommend VacationRentalDesk.com for a small portfolio. Their tools allow you to set up your own direct booking website, and they include all features needed to manage your properties, including credit card processing.  

Allowing tax code to be the primary driver of your investment decisions is never a good strategy. Cart before the horse defined.

 It's all a matter of what your bank says they will do. My banker will finance me 100% if I need money right away on the spot to get something, with the idea that we will transition to a more conventional setup within three months. All I have to do is literally call him.

Three years ago, I had the chance to pounce on a cabin for $230K. I asked him if he could overnight the funds for a quick close. Done.  

If it sounds like a decent deal, you need $15K-ish to close. Borrow it from your 401K. I did this once to buy a cabin.  Borrowed $50K if I recall correctly.  Early withdraw it from your iRA. Yeah, you pay taxes and penalty on it, but you're going to eventually pay taxes on it anyway. The only thing you are getting hung with is a 10 percent penalty.  In the scheme of life, $1500 isn't going to make any difference.  Sell a car and use the proceeds, or get a loan against your car if it's paid off.  Or do a cash out refi on your existing property and use the equity to buy the house.

This is definitely a CPA question. I do recall that when I rebuilt a cabin, I had to wait until completion before the real tax benefits began.

PL should offer this as part of their service. 

I use realtor.com and ask around a lot. So far so good. 

There isn’t enough margin in Property Management for a “national” PM to be successful.  They are just an extra middleman.  

Find someone local that knows your market and gives a hoot about your investment.