All Forum Posts by: Heidi Kenefick

@Jenessa NeSmith Wow, what an incredibly horrible situation to have found yourself in. 

I have done Airbnb for years and never had anything come close, but I would not hesitate to go through the resolution center. I had to do it once when someone "lost" my key, and he brought over a prostitute. He gave me push back about paying for the lock change, but ultimately, he had to pay it. 

As for the meth heads retaliating if you charge them for damage fees, I see how this could cause anxiety, but with your added security, and with the police already involved, I doubt they would try anything. Meth heads just want to get high, they are not the mexican cartels. I would also leave them horrible review, so no one else will host them.

Glad you raised your price. I think that that is one thing that weeds out people who just want to trash someone's place. Hopefully you don't have any more situations like this in the future!

It was in 2015. SunTrust has a medical professional loan, but not sure for CPAs. The thought behind physicians loans is that we have a very high debt to income ratio especially during residency, when we make about 50k/year but may have Med school debt >250k. So they don’t look at your debt when evaluating how risky you are as a borrower. They know we don’t have money saved for a down payment, yet are very reliable people and will make our payments, and are guaranteed a high income. I cannot say that all those factors exist in every profession, it is kinda unique situation, but keep on looking. Never hurts to give them a call and ask about it!

I have a doctors loan. It is a fantastic deal. I got mine through SunTrust, but BB&T also offered me one but the deal with SunTrust was better. I bought my house for 0 money down (actually after discounts the bank paid me 1500 at close) and I have no PMI. My interest rate is about 4%, which is slightly higher than what you can get with a traditional loan but only by a half a percent or so, and the no PMI makes up for that. I also have the option to pay it off early with out a penalty, so I pay an extra $100/ month and every two weeks instead of once a month, this making a full two extra payments per year that go straight to the principle. I was offered a fixed rate vs an ARM that inflates after 7 years, but the interest rate was 1% lower on the ARM so I took the ARM knowing I am selling 3 years after buying. SunTrust also just introduced a medical professionals loans for those that are not doctors. It has similar terms as the doctors loan. As for lawyers and CPA’s I can’t speak to that because I am not a lawyer or a CPA. But for me the doctors loan was a no brainer. The only caveat is you cannot use it to buy a rental property. I asked my mortgage broker. However, you can use it to buy a house then rent out part of the house, and you can get a second loan once you have paid 20% of the first one. So if you want to buy a multifamily with it, you can do that, then once you have 20% in you can get another multifamily and move into it and completely rent the first one. I wanted to do that with my SFH, however the house has appreciated so much since I bought it that it actually makes much more sense to sell it then rent it out.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will sell it. :)

I thought that the 1031 exchange is for investment properties only and that primary residencies are excluded from using a 1031. However since I have short term rentals in my house through Airbnb, I do not know if my house would then qualify for the 1031 exchange. Because not paying capital gains taxes on it would actually save me a lot of money.

Hm, I thought properties which are primary properties are excluded? Can I get around that since I rented out rooms in my house?

I have zero experience with this, but I would hire a moving company to put it in storage. Then when he pays the fee he can have his stuff. If he does not pay the fee then let the storage company auction it off. In the mean time you can clean the place and change the locks. Let him know in writing where he can get his stuff after he pays the fee and include the moving and storage costs In the fee. Not sure if that’s legal, but seems like the best way to move forward for you.

Hey all, Need some advice on whether to sell my home or rent it out. I’m moving in out of state in 6 months, and so I have the option of renting out my house when I move or just sell it and use any money made to buy a duplex or triplex in CT. I bought my house for 0 money down (actually got back 1500 at close) using a physicians loan. I took an ARM loan with a fixed rate for the first 7 years. I paid 136,000 for it, and have about 11 thousand in equity in it. The house has appreciated to $143,000 (according to Zillow) however the same exact new construction houses on my street go for 157,000. So I may be able to sell it for closer to 150k. So I think after realtor fees I may be able to net $19k if I sell it. I have been house hacking it for the past two years and making 12k/year. Houses in my neighborhood rent for between 1,100 and 1,300/month, my mortgage is $700/month and I would have to pay a PM as well. It’s a new house built in 2014 so maintenance costs are minimal. So I could rent it out for 3 years and sell it before my interest rate rises, or I could sell it in 6 months when I move and use the money from the sale as a down payment on a duplex or triplex in Connecticut. I cannot get another 0 Money down physician loan unless I have 20% equity in my house, and I am a long way off from that right now. So i would have to use traditional financing which I’m not even sure if that can be used for a multifamily home. I also cannot use the physician loan for a rental, which kinda sucks because 0 down without PMI is a great deal. Any advice on the pros vs cons of selling my primary residence vs renting it out? Does the house depreciate more if it is a rental? Would I pay higher taxes if i sell it as a rental vs primary residence? What would ya’ll do in this situation?

Yes I could come up with the $400 but I’m single and make $58k plus another $12k a year from house hacking. I travel around the world regularly, have a gym membership, and eat out more than I should. My only debt is my mortgage and my student loans. But if I had kids I imagine my lifestyle would be very different. I have health insurance through my job. But I also think that it is rather naive not to have health insurance AND disability insurance that is not through your job. And telling others to skip out on health insurance is really playing with fire if not down right ignorant. My sister who is 36 and perfectly healthy was transitioning between jobs and so had no benefits when she had a sudden brain bleed and was in the ICU and inpatient rehab for 19 days. Luckily her health insurance was through her husband but she did not have disability insurance and so ended up having no income for more than 6 months until she could work again. You absolutely never know when you will get sick or injured and so everyone should get both health and disability insurance, and get it outside of your job. If you are too sick to work, you can lose your job and your insurance will go with it! The number one cause of bankruptcy in the US is due to medical bills. Don’t fall into that trap!

@Roy Gutierrez yes I was worried about the whole professional scammer thing too, but I have never had that problem. I would say that the majority of my guests are travel nurses and so I know they are coming for a defined length of time. Plus, I live in my home, and have no problem kicking someone out if they tried to not pay rent. They could sue of course, but the hassle probably wouldn’t be worth it for most people. And you can always call Airbnb if you do have a problem and they can cancel that persons account, not to mention that writing someone a bad review on Airbnb will probably abruptly end their ability to keep scamming.