All Forum Posts by: Karen Higgins

I'm looking for a home builder in the Minneapolis, MN market.  We recently had a FLIP project that had significant damage , and had to be torn down in Elk River, MN. We have cut ties with the contractor we were using as they decided to avoid phone calls with us following the tear down.   We now have a vacant lot that we either need to build on, or move a house onto.  This is a first for us.  If anyone has experience in this, please give me any feedback.  If you know of a reputable home builder in the area, please give their contact info.  

If you have any experience with moving an already build home onto the property, please let me know your thoughts.  Pros of cons of each would be great.

Thanks!!  - Karen

I'm looking for input on lowering property taxes in MN.  We purchased 14 units a few months ago, that was bank owned.  The valuation used for the property taxes is close to 1M, and our purchase price was $600K.  I've spoke with the county assessor, and am being told, that they most likely will not lower the taxes because they do not take into account sale prices of foreclosure properties.  Has anyone else run into this?  Do you think it is worth it for me to set up a new evaluation?  Any input would be appreciated.  Thanks!!

@Dennis Bethel Thanks for the articles. I’ll check them out. 

@John Woodrich Thanks for the input.  Do you have a contact here in MN that does the cost segregation "mini study" you mentioned?  Or does your company do this? This property is located up north in Bovey, MN.  What is the typical cost of the "mini study".  I'm assuming it is not as expensive as doing the full cost seg study.

@Yonah Weiss Thanks!!  Another questions...  We just purchased 14 units for $600,000 last month, built in 2007.  In your opinion, would that be worth a cost segregation study?

@Yonah Weiss I do qualify as a real estate professional.  

Hypothetical numbers... if we had $50,000 of "extra" depreciation after accounting for all profits in our real estate, could we then use that $50,000 against $150,000 of income from our insurance business?   

Tax season is upon us, I'm in need of some advice regarding cost segregation for next years planning.  My husband and I are real estate investors in MN with 70+ units that are long term buy and hold properties.  We are looking to buy a small apartment building next year, 20-40 units (or larger if we find the right property).

Question - Can cost segregation deprecation be used to offset active income from his insurance business?  Or is it only able to off-set rental income? We've talked to a few tax accountants, and have yet to get a clear answer.  Any input would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!  Karen

I agree with @Kyle Doney. After 2 plus months and no less than 50 phone calls, we thought we had all of of money returned, but continue to have issues with the R10 being reversed. This is not without causing tension with tenants in the process, as we are having to have multiple conversations about what happened to the funds. I don’t believe erent can shift the blame and claim that they were not at fault. I think that anyone who works with them is a fool. There was no communication and erent did little, if anything, to help me recover my funds. Do not work with this company in the future. I recommend finding a more reputable company that is up front and honest. 

@Joe Splitrock, We have been working on this since day 1. Most of our tenants bank with Wells Fargo and they have been very challenging to deal with. With phone calls to at least 10 people I have gotten them to agree to the R10, when my tenants submit a specific form. Granted, my tenants have already been on the phone and to the branches multiple times are tired of dealing with this issue as they “already paid their rent.” It has been a very frustrating process. Now we are having difficulty with tenants paying us the returned funds. Overall, a big mess! Any suggestions on what we else we can do? We’ve offered our tenants an incentive off next month rent if they can complete this.

@Gretchen P. We are currently out $10,000 that we are trying to collect via R10 returns. It has turned out quite difficult and we are still trying to track down Oct rents. I would be very cautious to stay with this company. We have removed our account.