All Forum Posts by: Lucas Hammer

Huge thanks @Brandon Hall for the clarification. Sorry for another follow-up. I understand how that would apply to the Tulsa trip, but if I'm travelling to NYC specifically to get ideas for my Chicago property (whether through meet-ups, trade shows, etc.) instead of to purchase a property, does the rule prevent me from doing that as well?

If I went to a seminar on landlording in NYC, would I not be able to write that off unless I owned property there? Thanks as always.

Thanks @Ray Johnson! So I think I might've worded one part of that poorly. If I don't have a legal entity setup and I'm just running them as my own landlord, is travel not tied to a property an allowable expense? Pretty much my Tulsa question again, but without a legal entity and separate taxes.

Hey everyone, I've searched high and low for the answer to this, but I can't seem to find it. I have a couple of different scenarios and I just want to make sure that I understand how taxes work on both of these. I do already have an investment property in Chicago, so I'm "in business" currently.

1. I believe that New York is ahead of Chicago on housing trends and I'd like to visit and actually tour similar properties in NYC to get ideas for how to market my property (small square footage, making the most of the space, creative ideas for maximizing usability, etc.). As long as the majority of my time is spent on real estate researching, such as investor's meetings and visiting properties, I can write off the trip even though I don't own a property in NYC, correct? (I'm aware, I couldn't write off any personal things done while there, but food, hotel, airfare, etc.)

2. I'm considering buying a property in Tulsa (my hometown) due to low cost of living, having family/friends that I could have check on the property regularly, etc. If I go tour properties there, but decide not to buy yet, do those costs get added to the basis of a Tulsa property if/when I buy one there, or since I'm already in business as an investor with an active property, can I write off those costs? As a follow-up question, would the answer be different if I owned an LLC vs sole proprietor? Also, what happens if I deciding that Tulsa isn't the market for me and don't buy one at all? Am I simply out of that money for the research done since I don't have a second property?

Thanks!

I know that near me up by Cermak, it gets worse pretty quickly going west into the North Lawndale area. If L access is important, I personally wouldn't go more than a couple blocks west of California. The Kedzie stop feels much shadier to me, at least at night, but it's also an area I'm less familiar with, so that might be it.

Oh, overall they're really not that bad. The thing holding off gentrification is that people who never go south of Armitage are unlikely to move south without a really good reason to. The odds of getting attacked are incredibly low, but I legitimately know people who won't move south because of the news. 

Oh I completely agree. And I personally live there, but I think it slows gentrification when that's the narrative. And the fact that we're reaching 90s-level murder rates city-wide.

So Heart of Chicago has just kind of been lumped in with Pilsen now so people have started calling the whole area Pilsen now for the most part. I personally like the whole area quite a bit. Spill over from Pilsen and new developments are both driving change headed west into HoC and Little Village. 

I personally am house-hacking on the northeast side of Little Village near Cermak and California. The Pete's Fresh Market, shopping centers, and Planet Fitness are all good signs near me. I'm a 5 minute walk from the Lagunitas Brewery which is probably the hippest new establishment in the area, but a really, really good sign I think. 

As far as the slow progress, a lot of that can be blamed on this year's violence outbreak city-wide (but mostly on the south and west sides). I have a friend in HoC that really loves the area, but has had about 6 or 7 shootings within a block of his house this year, so he's considering going north. I think some others have had the same idea. 

The one other positive note I have is that the area (at least near me) reminds me very much of parts of Albany Park from about 4 years. I could've bought for cheap and made a killing in AP if I had the money back then, but hindsight is always 20/20. As it turns out, I got priced out there which is what led me to LV. 

Hope that makes sense and flows correctly. I'm typing on my phone from the L, so excuse any typos!

Okay, perfect. Thanks. That's what I was thinking, but wanted to make sure. So fixing a scratch on the floor wouldn't add, but completely sanding down and refinishing them would?

Fair point. I don't currently have an accountant, but will likely get one by the end of the year. I was just hoping to make sure I log everything correctly. So far I've been able to calculate basis, figure out depreciation, and how to segregate expenses, but want to make sure I'm not missing out on something or calculating it wrong.

@Daniel Hyman Right, yeah. That's why I was making sure I knew how to divide them up. I'm currently splitting them in half. Any repairs/improvements I do now to my living space will be added to the basis when I move and place that unit in service then, correct?