All Forum Posts by: Elvin Torres
Elvin Torres has started 12 posts and replied 38 times.
Post: two people per room

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Hi everyone. if you allow two people at a time to occupy a single room for rent in your home, do you have both of them fille out the same paper work, meaning the lease and everything else? how do you go about collecting utilities? Is it better to just split it up when the bill comes in?
Hi Everyone. I just called the city this afternoom and they told me that I will only be able to file for property tax exemption for my new home, only after I have lived there for one year, meaning that I am going to have to pay the full amount of taxes with no exemptions for the first year I I won the property. just wanted to put that outthere for the first time home buyer. The earliest I can claim the tax exemption is MAR 1st 2026. Since I have to wait a year before I can claim the exemption, I guess it does not matter what time a year you buy the property in. does it?
Post: taxes after rinsing and repeating

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Hi steven and thanks for the response. I dont quite understand your response. I just called the city this afternoom and they said that I will only be able to claim property tax exemption, only after I have lived in the residence for one year to beguin with, so to even get any benefit from my first residence, I will have to live there for at least another year. as far as tax portability, I will move from one residence to another, making the second residence my new primary residence. at which point I would need to apply for property tax exemption in my new residence, therefore annuling the first residence, as fas as tax exemption goes. As far as I am concerned, you can only claim residence in your primary residence, so how does tax portability plays a part in all this?
Post: Homestead Exemption Advice - Austin

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Hi Remisola.Thanks for bringing this question up. I just posted a similar question because I just bought a home that has high property taxes, and I was wondering what to do if I decide to live there for 2 years while house hacking, then buy another property and do it all over again. Those taxes from the first home will put a dent on my savings/cash flow when I move, since i won't be able to claim a tax exemption there. So far, I am thinking of selling or get a property with much lower property taxes when I move.
Post: Homestead Exemption Advice - Austin

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Quote from @Remisola Omodara:
Husband and I have 3 rental properties between us that were we lived in separately at different points before getting married. Because they were primary residences, we had homesteads on all of them. We recently purchased our "forever" home together in another county and applied for a homestead but of course we were denied because they found out we had 3 active ones in another county. We plan to remove them all to protect from tax increases on our current primary, but I am afraid that now that the other properties won't have homesteads, we may see skyrocketing tax bills and it will eat into already small cash flow from rental income.
Does anyone have advice for how to handle this situation other than just increasing rent? Rent is already in line with the market on all 3 properties and we have a few hundred dollars of cash flow. Thanks!
Post: taxes after rinsing and repeating

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Quote from @Stephen Morales:
Quote from @Elvin Torres:
Hi everyone. how do you deal with property taxes after you rinse and repeat several times? meaning you buy a single family home, live in it for one year and then rent it out, and do that same thing several times, since if you move, that residense will no longer be your primary residence, and you can no longer claim property exemption/homestead exemptio? depending on your location, that could be a few hundred dollars a month in extra expenses.
Hey Elvin,
Nice to see someone from the 904. Luckily, in the state of FL you have homestead portability. You can "port" your differential to your new primary residence.
For example: Your original home had a market value of 300k but was assessed at 200k under homestead, you carried a 100k differential, and when you file for homestead on your next house you can cap its assessment by the same 100k differential.
Now since you no longer have the exemption the rental you need to leverage rental property tax deductions to offset the new out of pocket costs. You deduct your property taxes every year along with all the regular expenses you can expect (insurance, management, mortgage interest, other fees etc.)
The best way to deal with the increase is to underwrite your deal with the anticipation of the increase in property taxes.
It's like they say, in real estate you make your money when you BUY.
Post: taxes after rinsing and repeating

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Thanks chris. I will be house hacking from the beguining. i am not sure if I will sell after a few years. more than likely I will rinse and repeat. I have to wait a year to claim my property tax exemption anyways! so yeah.2 years or more at least before I move on to the next. we will see.
Thanks. I appreciate it! I am reading the book. I guess I have not gotten to the part where the link is at.
Thanks Nicholas. that is definetly an option. I am thinking i will rent out one room only to get my feet wet and learn the ropes a little, then rent the others and go from there.
Post: How do I get started when I have no / low money down?

- Posts 38
- Votes 7
Hi Christine. I just purchased a new home with D.R Horton. no money down. 3.990% interest rate, all closing cost covered, they even paid the fee for breaking my lease early, and it is a brand new home with everything new in it. warranty for all the appliances etc. since I found the house myself, instead of using a realtor. i called the realtor when i was ready to buy, and they agreed to give me a monetary gift.(1, 1.5, or 2% of the purchase prize) you have to work that out with them. Not only i came out with no money out of my pocket, but I got a few thousands dollars out of the deal! I also asked D.R. Horton to waive the HOA for 1 year, which they did.