All Forum Posts by: Pixel Rogue

Polite bump?

Maybe lost needs to be in a different forum? 

As of this morning the tax office still had nothing. The office investigated and did find a page/title for the properties recorded in February. Had the title company at least made an effort to proactively communicate once or twice a week (even a month) this would have been better but they ignored us straight through. Haven’t heard from them since August 2020. 

Closed two properties in November 2019.
Title got recorded February 2021.

Unacceptable. 

This question is a little broader than 'real estate' as the solution yet looks like a good place to ask. 

We are considering converting one of the investment properties into our primary residence.We might do this once every two years to sell and cash out as we start to scale down. We might use one rental as permanent primary home. 

Biggest question ~ lets say we sell the primary home move into an investment and convert the investment to primary residence, what the some good ways to invest the income generated from the sale of the primary home (ideally in tax minimized conditions.). We are not as interested these days in picking up new investment 'properties' per say ~ possibly open to some type of REIT. Simply moving the funds to a savings/money market/mutual fund account that will be taxed annually on earnings is not desired. Same question if we decide to move & convert every 2 years.

Finally resolved. Required shaking trees at all areas from tax collectors to recorder of deeds and title company....each blaming issues on Covid + each 'other' area. 

This was the job of the title company and they did not do enough and requests for refund are being ignored. Insane. 

Thank you everyone.... Yes, think there was title insurance purchased albeit did not pay much attention never dreaming something like this would happen.

Hate the thought of bringing in a lawyer w/additional costs (these were costly investments already) ~ yet this is what I see as needed.

We closed two properties at the end of 2019. We discovered that the deeds were never recorded in our name when we went on a hunt to locate school taxes. In August title company blames everyone else (including state website being down the day they went to record it) ~ they would have it fixed asap.  November 2020, still not fixed...now getting upset w/the title company (a company I used exclusively for years w/o problems, same agent.) ~ telling me we benefit because 'we have more time to pay the school tax' ~ what? We actually lost the discount rates AND remain at HUGE risk w/o having the titles recorded. Inquired again in December 2020. 

As of today titles are still not recorded and have lost all faith and patience w/the title company.

1) Where are the responsibilities of the unpaid taxes? We have paid the 'assessed' value taxes which are based on non-dwelling space as they were new construction units in builder's name. 
We have had tenants in each unit for a year now, tiny token tax bills because the units have not been recorded as completed and sold etc.

2) How does a customer turn up the pressure in a way that the title company will take notice and respond to prioritize and fix the issue? 

While both closings were nearly identical and same time frame, only one property recorded prepaid taxes which the title company mailed back (August 2020) and there was nothing collected for the second property.

3) We think informing the lender of the problem might help put pressure on the title company, however the lending company of of the most skittish we have ever dealt with and might take drastic measure such as recalling the mortgages or something crazy...what could a bank legally do if they learn the title has never actually been recorded in the name of the borrower? 

Thank you in advance for any insight....

Finally have some rentals in LLC. When it comes time to exiting, what strategies do people use when it comes to use to exist w/minimal tax requirement? Sell property as 1031 exchange to purchase REIT for example? What do people do as they exit and sell off LLC investments?

Hello everyone,

While we have been in the rental business for many years, we have a new situation on the horizon and interested in pro input on strategy.
We are looking at purchasing a neighbors house as rental. The house needs some serious and expensive upgrades.Here is the question:

Live in our current home, rent out the new property.
Pros: No need to move. Write offs are simple enough.
Cons: No income during upgrades. Upgrades will take time, funds we do not yet have. Finding a tenant would be more difficult, lower rent. Overall expenses w/o income.

Live in new home, rent out of current residence.
Pros: We can work on improvements over time (on our own time, own budget.) 
Cons: Unclear what we can write off as an expense. We would need to move. 

Best of both words:  We live in our current home, find a tenant who is fine living w/gradual upgrades, drywall dust (highly unlikely.)
Next best option: We move into the new home, find a renter for our own home WITH ability to write off upgrades to new home.

QUESTION
Any legit strategies that will allow us to write off improvements to a rental property while we are the ones living in the property to do the majority of work ourselves? Open to any and all ideas. Maybe some element of timing, such as having x# of days/months to change categories, terminology? Maybe do heavy upgrades as soon as possible, then move over new home and rent out our own place? I think there have to be some strategies for situations such as this as this is nothing new.

Thank you for any insights....much appreciated. 

Hello everyone,

We are considering purchasing another home nearby. The place is similar to our own (same builder, similar layout etc.)
If we purchase, the home would need some serious upgrades that will take time.

OPTION 1:  Move into new place, rent out of current home.
We are comfortable moving into the new place, renting out our own home. This allows us to do a fair amount of the work on our own, on our own time, and we are comfortable living through upgrades.

OPTION 2: Stay in our current home, rent out new home. 
We may find a renter for the home at a lower-than-market rate. There are some upgrades we can complete while the tenant is in the unit (projects that you hire a contractor for and they can get the work done in a day or two) but others that are larger and take time to complete. 

Here is the rub:  Our preference is to actually move into the new purchase, rent out our home - HOWEVER - we are not clear how this might work when it comes to writing off expenses. We would want to live in the place (deal w/the drywall dust, painting and all) and yet want the write off the expenses. How can we approach this scenario where living in the new place would be considered 'primary residence' and prevent writing off expenses?  There might be clauses, time periods, special conditions...anything that would help shed light or help plan the right steps?