All Forum Posts by: Michael S.

I agree. Have the tennant pay for the lawn care or make them responsible for mowing the lawn and save $800 a year. Hell, even if you were to buy them a lawnmower yourself for $200 you would save $600 in the first year.

Do you have a library card? If so, download the Overdrive app for free onto your device, then link your library to it. Now you have completely free access to PDF, ebook and audiobooks.

What do you guys think about insurance companies estimates to re-build a property? Obviously they have a vested interest in over-estimating your repair cost in order to get you to pay for more coverage. Are certain insurance companies more accurate in their re-build estimates?

I am no expert, but I did read the NOLO book in Investment Real Estate Taxes. I highly recommend this book.

According to said book, deduction of mileage traveled for investment real estate is deductible from the income of said rentals. However, if you don't yet own a property in that area, and drive 500 miles to look at houses, but never buy, you cannot deduct those expenses. But, if you buy a house in a city 500 miles away and rent it out, and later you drive over to look at buying a second house, that prospecting trip is now deductible because you have a "business" in the area.

In your case, I believe you are OK deducting the mileage driven in direct support of your rentals.

I am not an attorney or accountant and this is not professional tax advice.

For those of you who don't use flat paint, if there is a small mark on the wall between tenants do you re paint the entire room? I have heard its impossible to touch-up a small area with anything but flat without having a spot that permanently looks "wet."

and this would be for a mid to high end rental, not the ghetto.

Are most of your properties lower end rentals Jon, or are we talking $2000/ month SFH or condos?

For those of you in the South Carolina/ Georgia coastal areas, do you purchase a termite bond to cover your buy and hold rental properties? Or, do you choose to do preventative maintenance yourself, via sprays and stakes that you place in the ground?

All of my homes are built on slab. I don't have any termite problems yet, but I just want to be smart and economical about preventing them. I have heard quotes for $200 a year for a termite bond that will do annual treatments and cover all treatment and repair costs should an infestation develop.

The way I look at it, if there's say a 5% chance any given year that I get a termite problem, and the cost to pay for the treatment if caught early is only $2000, then its not worth the cost of the bond. The big "IF" there is catching it early if there is a problem.

Now that sounds like an awesome deal, but is the maximum $10,000?

"The maximum loan amount is the smallest of the following:

• Your own contributions and earnings on those contributions in the TSP account from which you intend to borrow, not including any outstanding loan balance;
• 50% of your vested account balance (including any outstanding loan balance) or $10,000, whichever is greater, minus any outstanding loan balance; or
• $50,000 minus your highest outstanding loan balance, if any, during the last 12 months. Even if the loan is currently paid in full, it will still be considered in the calculation if it was open at any time during the last 12 months."

I just checked out the website, and that looks like an awesome deal, except for the $10k max. Did you do general or residential loans? If residential, how long did it take to get everything squared away? Could you set everything up ahead of time so that you come in basically as a cash buyer, or is it as complicated as doing a typical bank mortgage?

Good luck. My suspicion is that they won't let you move it until you retire or separate, but I don't know for sure.

Please post your findings as I am very interested to see if this works out.

We could really go down a rabbit hole here, but since this is a real-estate site not a military site I will try to keep this short.

If you are in a non-combat arms MOS and you forsee limited risk of future mobilizations because of war fatigue from politicians and the American public, then you are probably OK going that route.

If you are in a combat arms MOS I personally don't think the reserves is the way to go, especially when you are just starting out. I have many hobbies in which I don't mind being an amateur. However, when I go to war I would prefer for myself and those around me to be professionals-- especially my leaders. I know that won't make me any friends with the reservists out there but its the truth.