All Forum Posts by: William Morrison

It seems pretty clear the answer is yes to some and no to others, location and the class of property driving answer.
The properties I have are in areas that it is expected to have a refrigerator, dish washer and garbage disposal.  I provide them but they do not have a lot of bells and whistles.  My refrigerators at most have and ice maker.  My dish washers are basic.  I have removed refrigerators with too many bells and whistles and replaced them with basic models.  The model you show and rent will be the standard expected when a replacement is required.  I know some of you are in locations that allow you to fill your lease with conditions and exceptions, I am not.  Basic works great.
I have a couple places with washers and driers but not all.  I use the same approach there, basic.
The question is where are you, what class of tenant have to be answered before you can make a decision.

@Brian Eastman you posted while I was typing.  By setting up a separate company to manage real estate I was able to separate the passive from the non passive.  The filings and the small additional taxes were worth it because of the 401k being rolled over.

 Jack, I had to go through several CPAs (even those recommended) to get informed answers.  There are a couple folks here that have pretty straight answers.  I used Sense Financial to set mine up and have been very happy.  Brian Eastman's post have been on target as well.
Your company cannot be real estate rentals, in that in that it cannot be passive.  You can have a company that manages rentals.  The rentals can be owned by you (not in your 401k).
That company can have a Solo 401k as you described.  It can have rentals but not manage them.  I'm sure I've said part of that backwards.
So an S-Corp focused on non passive property management.  It will have payroll, taxes etc. The properties managed can be yours.  Then it can have a Solo 401k. 

I used Sense Financial to setup my Solo 401k and have been very happy.  You need to make sure your documents speak to a brokerage account.  They took care of that for me.
I then use OptionsXpress as my brokerage.  It's owned by Schwab.  It was a smaller broker focused on complex options and bought by Schwab keeping the trading platform.  You will not be able to set it up online.  You will have to talk to a real person.  And you may have to talk to more than one person to get them or any broker to realize you are not trying to setup a 401k managed by them.  But you are trying to have the same trading rules.  Most brokers have 401k product they will want to sell you having no idea what a Solo 401k is or how you might be the Trustee.  I contacted several, same at each.
Even my large nationwide bank took some time to explain that I wanted an account not a managed 401k by them.  Sense Financial has a pretty good cheat sheet for the bank.  You better know the broker rules yourself.  You don't want to have prohibited trades in allowed in your account.

One of the great things about this site is the answers come from all over the country and state.  Your question mentioned Montgomery County, MD specifically.  I have rentals there and live there.
We have some places where the water table is at 3 or 4 feet or less.  If there is a spring near by it could be worse.  Some places like my residence it's 15 feet or more, no water problem in my basement.
You don't want the water to come through the walls, the window wells etc like many have said above.  It is important that the ground and gutters drain away from the house.
If you have a high water table it will come from the bottom ie under the floor as well.
There is another situation that can cause the water to rise around the basement after storms or periodically.  All the utilities in the street if your in a developed neighborhood, were generally laid in a gravel bed.  Sometimes water will saturate these gravel beds and the water will follow the utilities to your house.  Seal the outside as many have said and your basically a boat in that water until it resides.  It may still come up through the floor without a sump pump.
Do not let someone place the french drain below the foundation.  It should be at the bottom or above.  Having the soil under the foundation change from dry to wet to dry over and over is not good.  It worse if your house is on clay.

 William, call your lender(s) and ask them.  Make a list of the two or three ways suggested in threads here on BP and ask about each.  I did and have several lenders, all will execute due on sale clause and quoted internal policy "no waivers".  Non of mine are credit unions.

@Travoris Love as a property owner that uses Property Managers I like what @David Panzera had to say.  At one time I found that during interviews with potential property managers I would find myself telling them what I expected and many were very good at rewording what I had said as a reply.
That didn't work so well, it wasn't who they were so much as trying to be everything they thought I wanted in words.
Now I try to let them tell me what they think their property owner would think is important.  I have about 10 things I want to hear.  I either hear it or I don't, but I'm not coaching them.  8 of 10 or so is not bad because not everyone will clearly describe things as they are in my mind. Grin.  But they should have it down pretty well and then references.
That said read the threads and see if you can see potential ways to avoid the issues and how you would respond if not.  Yes I know not all of them are the PM.   I includ tenant placement in the PM scope.
Bad Tenants, late payments, pricing repairs, communication, what's on your list, how do you respond or avoid issues.  Be ready to explain it and do it in a timely manor.

@Kristina Inglis don't be afraid of the cash buyer.  The idea that "Cash is King" only goes so far.  I do both.  A cash purchase can take two weeks, a mortgage purchase 30 to 45 days, if all goes well.
The seller will only give up so much for the difference in time.  The all cash seems to work best when the seller does not have something better and is not sure they want to wait anymore.  At least that's how it seems to me.
More important, what do you have to show them that you wont have a problem getting a mortgage?  A bank or mortgage letter is a big help here.  That way they know they are comparing two offers with only the difference in time, not the loan risk.

You have some great answers.  Anywhere I have a sump pump I have a battery or domestic water (no well) backup.  The battery backup system is basically two pumps, the battery one above the primary pump.  If the primary pump fails for whatever reason the water rises until the battery operated pump picks up.  The system depends on the backup pump pressure switch or float to work.  The battery is a deep cell (like on a boat) and lasts about five years or more.  So we change every four years, not cheap but beats the alternative.
I also add an alarm.  The alarm is run off a battery like in a smoke detector.  Mine are the 9 volt type.  I change them all at the same time.  The alarm is a small sensor placed above the primary pump and below the backup.  It doesn't help much when no one is home, on vacation etc.  No one hears the alarm.  But when it's heard you know the primary pump requires attention.  The noise maker part with the battery is about the size of a cigarette pack and costs about $10 or $15.   I don't know if there is something better out there.  Old guy has been using these for about 20 years.

 Mindy, great page add.  It could use a date though.  It's nice to know when something was updated or posted.  At least I didn't see one.
I was just on a legal site earlier today. In the body of the reference I needed was a note "no changes to date", so I looked all over the page and there were no dates.  Grin.