All Forum Posts by: Stephen Lortz

Quote from @Drew Sygit:

Definitely start with house-hacking to learn!

Being right there with the tenants will limit your problems, just make sure to modify your standard home insurance policy.

While your goal of, "the idea of restoring properties to there fully potential while providing housing for the local community" is admirable, it will NEVER happen.

You're not the first, and won't be the last, investor with a big heart. 

Unfortunately, tenants will eat you alive and force you to change:(

Focus on building wealth and if you can become wealthy enough - you might be then able to make an impact on your community:)

 Drew,

Thank you for your response, I appreciate the insight on changing my home insurance. That was my thought process with interacting with a tenant.

Responding to your comment about me giving back to my community, I would agree that there needs to be a boundary between the tenant my charity. I should expound on my comment. I feel giving back to my community is important as it has given so much to me to be at this level of success. On this note I am looking to find homes that fit my "deal terms" as for me to continue to give to the community I need to successful. 

As for tenant comment you made. I honest do not know how I would react as I have never experience this. My thoughts is to treat this as a business providing a service to the community. I would agree I have a soft/ big heart but I also understand that I have to be success to continue on my charitable wants.

I do appreciate your willingness to read and comment on my post. I do appreciate you concerns and insights. Thanks for the insurance comment and your concerns. These comments add additional thoughts and strengthens my plan and process.

I hope the best for you and that you will attain your goals and dreams.

-Stephen

Quote from @Ashish Acharya:

@Stephen Lortz 

Renting out a room in your primary residence is a smart way to learn property management, test the rental market, and generate extra income while keeping homeowner benefits. You can deduct a portion of expenses like mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance that relate to the rented area, and you’ll report the income on Schedule E. You can also still qualify for the Section 121 exclusion when selling your home, as long as you meet the ownership and use tests.

If you have losses via depreciation, and you are under the active participation threshold of 150k, those losses can also offset your W2 income to save taxes and give a bigger ROI.

This post does not create a CPA-client relationship. The information contained in this post is not to be relied upon. Readers are advised to seek professional advice.

Ashish,

Thank you for your insight, I never knew the about changing the insurance when renting out a room and tax benefits even if I am not part of a LLC. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

If you don't mind, what tests are you speaking of in regard to Section 121 exclusion? You spoke of depreciation, how would I find out about depreciation of a residence?

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my post and responding giving your insight. Best of wishes to attain your goals and dreams.

-Stephen  

Thank you for the feedback and guidance. 

I will look into connecting within my local community for like minded people along with building my "team". I appreciate the suggestion of looking at Facebook for analyzing deals for dry runs. I will also look at the Redfin, Facebook, and Airbnb for price referencing. I appreciate your general numbers in this realm of investing as it will give me a starting point. 

-Stephen 

Hello All,

I am from Central Indiana and I am looking to invest in the local area to provide housing for my community. I am planning on starting small in "house hacking" (or a version of it) by renting out a room in my primary residence as my area has a high amount of industry with seasonal / temporary employment (co-op and interns) from international and national colleges. I am plan to slowly study and learn from these experiences and books to expand into an ideal scenario of single family homes (if it makes sense). I look towards the idea of restoring properties to there fully potential while providing housing for the local community.

I got interested in this side of investments from my readings from different books I have read during my new years resolution (reading more) and found an understand and thirst to try this investment avenue out. I have only invested in the "traditional" way with 401K, IRA's HSA's & etc. I was interested in exploring a more "active" way to give into my community.

I hope this forums can help me understand the numbers (what to look for, what is a deal, and experiences). I am interest in a wide variety of subjects and I feel a little lost on how to go forward if initial plan makes any sense to a seasoned investor. As there is much more I would like to discuss but I feel this post would go on for pages and pages and should leave a high overview. 

Thank you to everyone know has taken the time to read and I hope you all find that perfect deal and attain your goals to set out for.

-Stephen