All Forum Posts by: Karen Lee

I asked for the application that the tenant filled out and anything else such as forwarding address and information of that sort.  Something so that I or a collection agency could use to contact them with. I did not ask for anything related to sexual orientation/age/sex/race/religion/marital status.... 

We had a nonpaying tenant, filed for eviction and received a judgment.  I understand that the possibility of collecting on the judgment is extremely small however I would still like to look into this what my options are.  At the very least I would like this reported to the credit bureaus so he doesn't continually do this to future landlords.  I contacted my property management company for the ex-tenants information and I was told that due to the Fair Housing Act she cannot release any infromation to me.  I'm confused, I hired this property mgmt company, if I had done the property mgmt myself I would have collected this application myself.   I'm pretty new to this but this just doesn't seem right...

Hi - From what I've been reading there are restrictions on HELOC interest expense deductions. Does anyone know if I take out a HELOC on my primary residence and draw funds to purchase/improve rental property (1) will the interest be deductible? and (2) will it be subject to the $750k (first mortgage and HELOC) cap?

I can't seem to find any guidance on my question specifically, and what I find says that HELOC funds must be used to buy, build, improve the taxpayers qualified residences (primary and second home) and cannot exceed $750k. So drawing funds to purchase rental property would not qualify?

Thank you!

Sorry I hit post a bit too soon.  I don't understand your question regarding capex/vacancies, and perquisities or personal expenses can be added back and included in cash flow.

Rules do vary by state so I'm not sure how PA defines income for purposes of determining support, but in CA you would calculate each parties cash flow, so for rental properties you would start with net income and add back non-cash items such as depreciation and then exclude the principal mortgage payments to arrive at the actual cash flow rec'd from these properties.  

Regarding your question about using an average - generally an average is used but this will depend and vary by the circumstances of each case

Yes that is true, the CA llc fee is $800 per year.  

One other thing to consider is if you have mortgages, there is generally a due on sale clause, meaning if you transfer ownership it will trigger this and the banks may ask you to pay the entire balance. I haven't heard of this happening in too many instances, however I also don't know too many people who transferred properties into the LLC.

I'm a family law forensic accountant in CA so to try and keep things organized and clean and to achieve the result that you want, I definitely suggest you speak to an attorney.  In my experience, not only should you keep the assets in your name only, but you must also keep separate and community funds separate.  For example, once you get married W-2 income is considered community funds, if those are ever deposited into the brokerage account or if you use community funds to pay down the principal mortgage on the real estate then you've commingled separate and community.  The community now owns a portion of the real estate even though they are not on title.  That is a simple explanation, and I'm not sure of your particular situation.  If you would like to speak more or need further clarification feel free to reach out.