All Forum Posts by: Kent Baltare

Hey Charli, I'm a little late to the party on this one but I purchased a place in Pigeon Forge that is under construction about 2 months ago, set to be completed end of September.  Since before I purchased I was recommended David from Smokymountains.com and I have been using him not only on the property management side of the discussion but really every question I have.  I met him a few months back in Pigeon Forge along with my realtor Phillip Derosia.  These guys have been dreams to work with and are true professionals, recognizing the importance of leveraging their experience to help their clients. 

Extremely professional and helpful if you are new to the vacation rental world.  Feel free to PM me if you have any other specific questions.  All the best going forward.

Thanks Naseer!

1) This makes sense.

2) This makes sense.

3) So to be clear, though the property is operating in TN, I am not able to avoid CA state tax through any kind of legal structure.

I guess a follow up question considering you likely have experience structuring legal entities... what would you assume the cost to be for getting it set up (LLC) and to mitigate my exposure would you think I should tie the property to a trust? (TRUST + LLC).

Thanks again!

Hello everyone, thanks for reading!

I was doing some digging on this topic but after a while of reviewing conversations that were close to what I was looking for I thought it made sense to post the question.

I am a Canadian living in California and I just purchased my latest investment property in Tennessee which is under construction to be completed late September.  Being a Canadian, this is my first US property purchase and I want to make sure I am setting up the asset under the right legal structure so I don't lose my shirt in event something goes wrong.

Questions:

a) I am thinking of setting up an LLC, but not sure of whether I am required to do this in TN (where the asset is) or CA? (where I live)

b) If this is a choice that is available to me, what's the best play here?

c) Come tax time, what will the difference be between me doing my corporate taxes in CA vs TN.

Also, any relevant referrals are appreciated and I apologize in advance if this has been covered somewhere I have not yet seen.

Thanks again for your time.

Thanks to you all for your great comments. I like Hawaii for the vacancy rates but the price point is a bit high as I'm looking at between 250 and 300k on this first one and would prefer staying away from a condo. Gatlinburg seems interesting to me, though I question the vacancy rates and the ability to turn it in to a buy and hold if it isn't performing well as a STR (due to its location). Myrtle beach is for sure a hot spot with Canadians, so I'll have to look in to that a bit more to see if detached homes in the right areas are available considering my budget. Thanks again for all the useful thoughts!

Hey there.

I wanted to reach out to the BP community to get their thoughts on interesting locations for a first time vacation rental buyer.  I'm currently a buy and hold investor in Canada but live in California.  I wanted to get peoples thoughts on specific areas in the US that would be good to look at for holding a vacation rental.

Interested in hearing about areas where the purchase price is realistic when compared to the vacation rental market (meaning that there is good demand for rentals throughout much of the year with attractive rates).   

Ideally, a warmer location so I could accommodate many of my Canadian friends and family who travel to the US during the harsh winter months. (CA,FL,etc) 

Thanks in advance for your time.

I'm currently looking at making my first TK purchase, so this has been a very useful post indeed.  My main take away's in terms of action steps would be:

1) To try and fully understand the associated warranty with a TK purchase, practically speaking, come up with 5 worst case scenarios that you could foresee as plausible situations with your purchase.  Ask the seller to explain how you would be (or may not be) covered by the warranty that's tied to your purchase given these scenarios.  Where the warranty does cover the scenario, ask the seller to specifically point to the details of the warranty that support his/her claim.  ** ensure to include the related timelines in this discussion.

2) Kick the tires- As online dating has taught me, getting excited about great photos can often lead to a real let down.  You really need to see the property and get a good sense of whether its meeting your expectations before you can really call it a 'match' ;)

3) When you are buying, ask the seller/PM to describe to you a situation that was very challenging and how they remedied it.  The response is important, but after they respond ask them for the contact info of the person(s) they are speaking about.  Reach out to that person and ask them to give you a bit of their time to discuss how the company was to work with when things got tough...  This will also give you a chance to test the representatives honesty and integrity. 

Those are just some of my take-away's for other readers but good luck to those directly involved in this.

Also, be careful to look for a floor in Alberta.  Things have dropped, but its forecasted to get worse before it gets better.  A $40k purchase price dip is great... but not if you get in at -$40k when its going to -$100k.  There will be deals in Alberta, but likely not until owners are feeling the full effect of the drop in oil on the local economies.

I am from Canada, own an investment property in Alberta, looking to make a second purchase in the US as I now live and work in San jose, CA.  Contacted BMO Harris to talk about financing a Dallas home (keep in mind I have accounts with them already). Here is what they said for a $150k purchase price.

required:

50% down= $75k

An additional $25k in assets held at the bank 

6 months PITI for any REI property already owned = $6k

$106k/$150k= 71% of purchase price and he could prob get me 5% rate.

The tone in his laugh when I asked if he was serious = priceless!

This was also before he found out that my SSN was only 9months old (the amount of time I've lived in the US).