All Forum Posts by: Connor Dunham

I have some electric heaters I drop by if the heat goes out in winter (before night). I find anything more than 2-3 days is too long and will pay a higher rate at that point. Your local laws will dictate what is reasonable. You could do the same with window A/C units. Keep them as loaners. Also, yes, we don’t have A/C and it’s rarely above 75.

Hi Patrick,

I bought my first duplex in 2014 with 10% down. I refi'd before moving out and PMI dropped off within a couple months after paying for a broker price opinion. Much of this was made possible by an upward trending market and buying right. Currently, I'm in my third owner-occupied property and am looking to refi next year or will be requesting PMI be taken off at the two-year mark since the loan was sold to Freddie Mac: https://new-content.mortgageinsurance.genworth.com...

I've done some analysis and depending on the type of loan, PMI can be treated like additional interest to determine if you should seek alternative financing. Most recently, I was getting 9% apr on the PMI related portion of the down payment (anything above 80% LTV). So, it can really be a killer if kept on for the long term.

I just want to mention that your name is rather inconvenient for my keyword alerts. I'll name my next kid California.

Welcome to the market, Phil. I made another purchase earlier this year too as it really is a buyer's market at the moment. Wish you all the best.

 Hey Gabe,

I just repaired a unit that had the same thing going on. Had to replace the old carpets anyways and had linoleum in other places. The baseboard trim was also affected which made the costs go up too. Had to treat the subfloors with kilz, run an ozone machine for a couple of days, and get new carpet. I also took the opportunity to update the old linoleum flooring with Allure Vinyl floating on top. depending on the unit size, $2000-$3500 for floors, $1000 to treat subfloors and clean, trim costs vary, plus any other damages to fixtures and such. I was able to successfully negotiate additional charges beyond security deposit for the damages from the tenant after mailing the small claims package. document everything. Get them out!

@Brian Stike Sites with Public Notices will say what the foreclosure amount is. These are different for every jurisdiction.

@Viktor Bokun REO is bank owned. You'll usually get a quit-claim deed with most REOs. With retail transactions, you'll usually get a warranty deed. The price you pay is directly related to the risk associated. Terminology and protections vary from state-to-state.

Hey Youdo, 

I look on there too (among other auction sites). For the REO's you see, you can find out what the bank bought it back for on realquest express (or other sources). This is likely near their reserve price to help you figure out if you can actually get them to agree to your bid (what you can afford). Keep me in the loop on how things go as I haven't bid on anything yet and would like to learn from your experience.

 I agree FICA would be a game changer. I read your article and it does address that you wouldn't be able to use a pass through entity either. Rentals are considered passive income, unless you take an active role. So, I would need to see more definitions of active And passive activities before drawing any conclusions. Waiting for the final bill before digging deeper as I only need to look after me and not a whole client base like some other people on this thread. Thanks for the heads up!

 This is only for non-real estate mortgage interest on a primary residence (write off the mortgage interest you used to buy a boat). You can keep snowballing if it is property related improvements, acquisitions, etc. or just do this with rental property and not your primary residence.

Other key take-aways:

• you can only 1031 real property, other types of 1031 exchanged property are being eliminated.
• you can depreciate 100% of section 179 property the first year. This section is being expanded to include qualified energy efficient
  heating and air-conditioning property

Woohoo! if that makes it through. link