All Forum Posts by: Elaine Hester

Hi Nick--thank you for offering your time to answer tax questions--this is much appreciated and perfect timing for many of us!

Apologies if this has already been asked as I have not read through all the replies, what I am interested in getting clarity on is with regard to what qualifies as "real estate services" in order to write off expenses as a real estate professional.  

More specifically, I started focusing on RE full time in July of 2017. I have spent a significant amount of time in the learning process and wonder if, a) time spent in RE education can be included in the 750 hours of required RE services and, b) can tuition and related expenses be written off? 

Since I'm just getting started, I had very little actual RE income in 2017 (just minor cash flow from a rental), but am filing jointly with my husband and have a good $20K in educational expenses I would like to be able to write off. I do not have a CPA at this time. Thanks again for your advice.

Thanks Casey! I'm still learning about RE and curious about your statement, "one way to mitigate risk is to have an agent with leads for off market properties so you're not competing with multiple buyers" ... do only certain agents have off market leads? What is their strategy for finding these leads? and how would one find these agents?

Thanks once again!

Yay! --I answered my own question--I found the link for View my previous reports :))

@Guy Yoes, thank you for your reply, I would love to know how to upload a file as well. Would you mind sharing how to go about doing that? Thanks so much once again!

Hi—apologies if this is not the appropriate place to post this question. Please direct me elsewhere if so ... I know that when I use a calculator, I can download and save it. However, what if I want to edit one of those analyses later on? Are they saved in my account? Can I upload them? ...Or do I just have to start over again?

Thanks for your help!! :) 

Thank you for your super prompt reply @Dave Foster, much appreciated!

Seeing that you are a 1031 exchange Qualified Intermediary, can you tell me a bit about what you do and if you advise hiring a professional such as yourself  when doing the exchange. Since I've only worked with a realtor in the past, this is all new to me so I appreciate anything you can share.

Hi! We are new to investing and BP and jumped in head first and went pro—that's how I roll. HA ;D

Brief Background:

We have a 2BR SF Bay Area condo that we'd like to 1031 in 2018 when our current tenant's lease is up at end of May. I'm planning ahead because we've never done this before and want to get educated and be prepared. 

We have approximately $150K of equity and would like to exchange it for a multiplex in the San Diego area. I'm starting to analyze properties just to get a sense of what we're looking at, but would love to hear from folks with experience things like basic steps, expecting the unexpected, what they wish they knew the first time they did an exchange—or any other tidbits you can offer a newbie from an experienced point of view. 

In the right situation, we may consider partnering. 

I don't want to overwhelm you with unnecessary information, but happy to provide answers to any questions you might have.

Thanks so much in advance!

Elaine