All Forum Posts by: Kurt Dieringer

Why “or” when you can “and”? Take earnings from just one rental and fund your IRA. That’s safe money that gives you freedom to do more RE without you feeling like you’re risking your retirement on your own success.

I'm also in the industry (Ohio) and I can tell you, before or after any tax benefit, it's a good call. Really the only assumption on that statement is that the roof has relatively good solar access (room and not terrible shade). Oh, and for investment property, it's a business expense and you get bonus depreciation. 

How you finance anything affects your ROI, so consider cash flow and also cash left into the deal. Typically, these "zero down" programs take a HUGE fee upfront (12-15%), and then you hold the 5-6% interest for 20 years. That's because the bank is making the whole investment for you, so they get the return. If you have the cash, you get the full return. Don't fall victim to doubling your project cost through unnecessary financing. A good middle ground may be the Clean Energy Credit Union, which I've had a few customers use and plan to use myself to fund part of the deal.

Good luck!

I also use Jodi at Ruoff. She’s great!!

So I finally have the second rental unit. I did a live-in flip, house-hacking a double on VA 0% down loan, etc. Knocked it out of the park, now moved into a new primary home, keeping the double for rentals. Question is this: If I move the rental property into my LLC, start dumping rents into its bank account and make payments from its bank account to keep transactions separate from personal (for write-off, clarity, etc.), how will the bank see that I *personally am making that money when it comes time to finance the next purchase? Seems I will need the rental income to justify taking on new debt. For instance, qualifying for the mortgage on this house used 75% of the rents on the double by nature of the leases we had on it, but they are in MY name, not the business. I don't really want to continue using personal name and monies, but I don't understand how to qualify in the future if not. Good advice welcome!

So I finally have the second rental unit. I did a live-in flip, house-hacking a double on VA 0% down loan, etc. Knocked it out of the park, now moved into a new primary home, keeping the double for rentals. Question is this:

If I move the rental property into my LLC, start dumping rents into its bank account and make payments from its bank account to keep transactions separate from personal (for write-off, clarity, etc.), how will the bank see that I *personally am making that money when it comes time to finance the next purchase? Seems I will need the rental income to justify taking on new debt. For instance, qualifying for the mortgage on this house used 75% of the rents on the double by nature of the leases we had on it, but they are in MY name, not the business. I don't really want to continue using personal name and monies, but I don't understand how to qualify in the future if not.

Good advice welcome!

Department of Zoning and Building. Just call and they’ll walk you through. Sounds like a great value add to the property! If they don’t go for it on the first try you can always try submitting for a variance.

Currently have two units, but after I hit 8 or 10, I plan on paying off just for less hassle. That would be plenty of cash flow for my needs, and I’d much rather have 8 tenants than 40 and so many more loans. Don’t need to be rich, just financially free!

@Andrew Merritt that's exactly what I mean. The expenditure should be in the same calendar year to wrap it in with your tax credit. If I were you, I'd do it now, pay it Jan. 1.
@Brian Schmelzlen that may have been the case before, but I do believe rentals still qualify (that's not the case for some other energy credits, like geothermal, which went away anyhow). Hope this article helps: https://www.thetaxadviser.com/newsletters/2017/oct...

I'm surprised to hear you say West Franklinton, and not East Franklinton. I think it gets much harder in that neighborhood the further entrenched you get to the old community. So as far as "Short Northish," your Rich, Town, Broad St. corridors have more opportunity for flare in the East. My personal opinion, since you asked

I concur with Andrew Smith. Whole roof should qualify for 30% ITC if and only if done in the same year, because it's necessary for solar panels. Look for any installer who's NABCEP, and the regular licensing, etc. Reviews go a long way.
If this is a rental, are you going to charge a monthly access fee for the solar in addition to rent, and let them handle the utility bill, or are you going to cover all utilities? Curious because I'm planning on putting it on my rentals also.