All Forum Posts by: Jennifer S.

I wish other angles to increase housing supply were also being explored in Boston...they started an accessory dwelling unit expansion "pilot" program but i think it only included 2 neighborhoods. Many parts of Boston aren't that dense and could do with densification. Would it really kill the city to have some buildings 5 stories instead of 4? 6 instead of 5? Good that there is construction going up all around some of the T stations but it honestly wouldn't change the world if these were one level higher. I'm not saying build 40 stories in every area but it just seems too hard to expand a home to provide more housing stock (or convert from 2 fam to 3 fam etc). I haven't been following the zoning news lately though and very happy to be corrected!

Also if you are an all cash property buyer, again congrats!! And ignore the above which deals a lot with the problems of how mortgage interest is treated. Although the capital gains problem is still out there

Hi Nikhil, I'm not expert on this kind of market but wanted to flag how bad the situation has now become regarding tax and rental properties if you are subject to UK tax. If you have enough wealth /income to justify the non dom fee to keep income offshore, first congrats! but then ignore the following info. 

So the pretty bad news at least according to my UK tax advisor is that the buy to let tax law change here in the UK extends its long arms abroad. So while the US government treats my mortgage interest as a cost, the UK government doesn't. Ouch. 1031 exchanges may help in the US but they are not recognised in the UK. Not giving advice here just tips so hopefully message wont be blocked. I think there's also a UK tax problem if you put a property into an LLC in the US to avoid the UK tax problem regarding mortgage interest. My advisor sent me a PDF of this and it referred to a high court decision and said there was still some grey areas after the court ruling. For me it's starting to get into the too hard camp and I'm starting to look at other investment areas. I'm in the UK medium term barring total economic meltdown from Brexit should that occur, so the tax situation is what it is for me until I make it big enough to pay the non dom fee perhaps

Congrats and well done!

Hi Tara, I'm also very interested in this area. I'm based in London UK but am originally from Boston and am currently looking at multi families in MA and RI (just working with a mortgage broker right now to arrange financing).

I am subscribed to some groups like Passive House Massachusetts. While that is about new builds I imagine some people in that group are interested in rehabbing too. Here's an article about one of the first passive houses in Rhode Island. Again new build but the contractor may be an interesting person for you to meet.

http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150420/...

My understanding is that Passive House building in Germany has come much closer to conventional building costs as many thousands of people have built this way and have come up the learning curve. Perhaps these materials, and the skill sets might do the same in the US.

I think I'm not supposed to promote anything here but there is actually a New England Passive House Multi Family Conference coming up in April. If you PM me I'm happy to share details of it. There will probably be a lot of like minded people there.

Very happy to stay in touch on this. When I'm in town (3-4 times per year) I try to attend the local REIG meet ups and happy to meet up separately if the timing works.

If I was on the ground I would consider new build--not sure how much plots of land are in Providence and how hard it is to build, but it's also an idea. At the same time I love older architecture and wherever it can be preserved and rehabbed I support that.

Hi @Mike S., I posted something about data I'm trying to gather on the following post

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/80/topics/214...

(It's a bit Mass specific)

All the best

@Jack S., thanks for your posts. I was wondering how you are adapting to the upcoming changes to the tax treatment of mortgage interest in the UK. Are you going to set up an LLC and if so what kind of terms and rates are you finding? Just when I'm ready to spend more time on property investing, they radically change the rules!!

@Anthony Thompson, thanks! We can connect next time. I learned some great info about scaling up from 6 to 100 units. I loved the stories on sourcing deals as well.

Unfortunately I heard back from my UK tax advisor and I can't deduct mortgage interest from income unless I buy via an LLC or pursue a furnished holiday rental. No idea why they are using the tax code to incentivize holiday rentals but not normal rentals.

But with all the crackdowns on Air BnB that route seems a bit politically risky as well. So I'll be looking into commercial financing now and setting up an LLC. The only silver lining is I can deduct those high RI property taxes...

Happy holidays!

@Christian Allen, thanks, that's helpful 

@Chris Clothier, great info, thanks very much