All Forum Posts by: Lindsay West

Thanks for the terrific advice. 

My aunt has a home in San Diego that she bought in 1987. Now, she's getting ready to retire and move to Florida. It's been her primary residence for more than two of the last five years, but it has also been an investment property for the last year and a half while she's been stationed overseas. She's looking at a significant tax bill when she sells the property. I know the first $250k is tax exempt on a primary residence. I've also talked to her about doing a 1031 exchange. But I was wondering if it's possible to use both of these strategies to mitigate the tax burden. Is this possible? Or does a property have to be either a primary residence or an investment property for tax purposes?

There's a house around the corner from my parents' house that's been abandoned for several years. I'm interested in buying it, so I looked up the tax assessor's records to see who owns it. The record shows the owner as the woman who bought it in 2005, but I'm pretty sure the house has been foreclosed on. The neighbors on both sides told me it's foreclosed and there are papers posted in the windows stating the property is abandoned. Minor repairs have also been made to the property over the last six months(according to the neighbors). That being said, the property has not been put up for sale. So, if it is owned by a bank, how do I contact those who could sell me the property? 

Hello BP verse! 

My name is Lindsay West. I actually set up my account on BP a while ago, but haven't done much with it because I have been bogged down in my last year of college. Happily, I graduated in December with a degree in Finance and now can turn my attention back to learning as much as I can about real estate investing. Before I went back to school, I was a real estate agent in the area, but got taken down by the housing crash. ( I never thought to work with investors! ) I still love real estate though... Right now, I'm reading some of the books that are consistently mentioned on the podcast, and I am excited to learn anything and everything that I can about this business!

Thanks to both of you for pointing me in the right direction! That really helps a lot. 

Hello BP! I am brand new to real estate investing and to Bigger Pockets, so I've been focusing on reading and educating myself. I have read a lot on how to analyze a property, but very little on how to analyze an area. I am in northeast Georgia and have focused on the town of Gainesville. I like it because I think the local economy is pretty stable. Gainesville is the poultry capital of the world (yes, world). There is a huge chicken processing industry here. Along with that, there is a university, a big hospital and the local government. However, the schools are not great. Despite that, I think it could be a good area to invest. Is my instinct right here, and is there any statistical data I should be looking at to judge an potential investment area?