All Forum Posts by: John Koontz

From personal experience, the issue he had may not have been with you and your girlfriend, but with the "third wheel" roommate. I know that is more of a red (or at least yellow) flag for me. Typically, in relatively short order, the couple is going to get sick of living with the third wheel, or vice versa.

@Joel Owens true, we love donuts. If they're free, we don't really care if they're stale. 

@Tim Johnson wait until everything is said and done, then have you or your PM reach out to the officers or substation responsible for your address. Ask them what the issue was. As long as you come across as being concerned about being a good neighbor and wanting to keep a good property, they'll appreciate it. Try to open up a line of communication with them so they know to come to you or your PM when there are issues or they need info.

Thanks all, it's good to hear the consensus. I'll get with my tax guy...not sure I'll continue with him. This seems like it should be pretty basic knowledge. 

Thanks all for the input.

@Christopher Smith they are both rentals during my ownership

My taxes are done each year by an attorney. When I got into rentals (we just closed on our 2nd SFR) the atty recommended we not depreciate the SFRs. His reasoning was that it wasn't worth having to recapture the depreciation unless we were sure we were going to hold onto them for a long time.

Based on the reading I've done, I'm getting the impression that we WILL have to recapture the depreciation regardless of whether we depreciate or not. Can anyone (specifically tax advisors or attorneys) confirm that this is the case? If so, I need to see about amending some tax returns. Or, if/when we sell, is there some statement or declaration we can make to the IRS and state treasury that we didn't depreciate?

Thanks for any input or advice.

Here, we set up a landlord account or standing order for the property. When tenants close their account, the service automatically reverts back to my name. This way I get alerted when they start or stop service. I'd check to see if your local utilities offer something like that.

If you're worried about variations, mix product from each of the boxes. There's a chance there may be slight variation if the products were from different manufacturing batches, but if you take from all boxes as you lay down, you shouldn't notice it.

@David Bell 

No, it's not. DC v Heller was regarding the municipality banning firearms, not an individual. Again, the US Constitution does not preserve peoples' rights from other individuals, but rather government intrusion. It's not a constitutional issue. 

Still a bad idea, though.

The Bill of Rights is protection against government intrusion on (name your right) freedom of religion, to assemble, to bear arms, etc. It doesn't protect against other individuals infringing on those rights.

That being said, I echo the common sentiment that posting "no gun" signs makes you/your property a target, and people that would use a weapon to harm others without justification will possess them anyway. 

On a different, but related note, as a police officer I am usually put at ease a little bit when I know someone I'm dealing with has a permit to carry and is lawfully carrying a firearm. This tells me they're not a felon, not a drug user, and were at least responsible enough to take a class. Of course, there are exceptions.