All Forum Posts by: Jacob A.

To expand on @Dave Toelkes 's fantastic answer, not only will you be subject to ordinary income taxes but you will also be subject to the self employment tax, which is basically your share of social security and medicare taxes.

Thanks @Joe Scott I hope you're right! Luckily, I'm using a HELOC to finance so my holding costs aren't eating me alive too bad while the holidays trickle by. I'll ride out at least the first half of January and see if the activity picks up and if not, I think a price drop may be in order. Thanks for the kind words.

@Wilson Pe

If you listened to J Scott's podcast, he gave one of the best tips I've heard for finding good, reliable contractors. Go to Home Depot or Lowe's at 7 a.m. and talk to the contractor's there getting ready for their jobs that day. A good contractor will want to have all of his supplies ready for the day early on so he can have a full day on the job. As for your last question, it seems like I'm plugging J Scott here a lot I'm going to have to get him to start paying me :), but his book about estimating the rehab costs is a good resource for a new person like yourself. Other than those two suggestions get references from people you know for contractors they have used in the past. Spend a day walking around Lowe's or Home Depot getting familiar with prices of items. Hope this helps!

@Joe Ruvalcaba

Welcome to BP as Ned said! Do you have any equity in your personal residence? A HELOC is a good way to get started as well. Just a thought. Good luck to you!

I love @Steve Babiak 's idea of giving the newbies something about the search function so we can avoid the asking of the same question a hundred times.

I appreciate it @Matt Granger

I'd wake up and be really upset.

@Tyler Hester

Unfortunately no. We had a very positive showing last week and I was really hoping to get an offer from them but haven't heard from them since the back and forth with my realtor about the well water. I don't really expect much activity until after the first of the year so I'm kind of in a holding pattern until the holidays are over.

@Kirk Zacharda

I'm rather new to RE investing so take my advice with a grain of salt but I think the #1 thing to focus on is knowing your market backwards and forwards. You can flip in any market as long as you are confident about the area you are investing in and as long as your numbers work. More experienced investors would probably tell you to find a stable market. I don't think the markets that fluctuate double digit percentages every year make for very good investments as there is always the risk of a massive drop off at any time. Hope this helps!

@Zoran M.

In a way I think the bigger rehabs are better for a new investor like yourself. If you've already accounted for foundation issues and other larger items, which it looks like you have with a 40k rehab budget, there's less of an unknown. Sure it's a lot of work but that's why you get references and hire a good team. I'd encourage you to take a leap here and get started. You are at a tremendous advantage to have funding with ZERO interest. The beautiful thing about real estate is that it's always worth something so its not like you're going to buy the house and the value magically drops to zero and you lose everything. Step up to the plate and take a swing, it's better than sitting on the bench for your whole life. Good luck!