All Forum Posts by: Steve Morris

"Can’t you deduct the repairs from the income tax?"

Well, almost right.  If it is an expensable (not depreciable) expense, you can set that off against your net income for the operating year.  You may have a loss carry-forward with this property.

Well, these are hard money people and they care about 2 things:

1) That you'll be able to service the debt and, if not

2) If you default that they can "fire-sale" the asset for more than debt.

If you took the $60K, what would the house be worth if they took it back as-is?

Is it possible to start investing with 10k only?

Well, since you'll need some funds as reserve, I'd start asking sellers for carryback financing.

It's my understanding that a county tax lien has priority over any other liens---so basically everything else is wiped out.

What do you mean by wiped out?

Those liens are still due, however, they may be subordinate to the tax lien.

I would get it fixed NOW - The longer you wait, the more expensive moisture invasion becomes.  The tenant isn't responsible for roof or wall interior repairs.

As far as the grease clog, if this is the first time, I'd do it and take notes.  If it becomes a 2x monthly event then you'll have to talk to the tenant into paying.

I would go with an agent also.  Of course, you may have to give him the opportunity to make money.

Nothing against ZIllow, Redfin, etc. but they are highly automated and just go for ZIPcode, price, sqft.  They do not account for places with/without view, near to a school, in good/bad shape, etc.

"I am willing to pay for temp access in a format with a flat fee of a mix of percentage and flat fee of grunt labor of filtering through the MLS (as an assistant)."

Well, good luck. Brokers pay for access to the MLS and in most cases giving someone access that doesn't qualify would get that broker kicked off.

It's not that hard to get a license and be a realtor. Do that and then you can pay $100/month or so for access. Getting that info together and accessible is not a free thing. However, I don't think MLS has operating data beyond the simplest stuff - Then you're trusting the broker did it right, which is maybe 25% of the time when I look at residential broker listings.

Think the bigger long-term issue is the value universities add to a graduate in return for some pretty hefty tuition.  Hence, I don't think demand is growing as fast.  There's always going to be the kid that wants out the house. doesn't know what he wants to and obliging parents willing to foot the bill.

However, expect online learning to take a bigger chunk.  In addition, the student housing market is pretty overbuilt right now.

Confused, why would title ask about inspection?  Did you request extended title (like a survey) or is this for a prelim title report?

Physical inspection benefits you (or whomever you assign it to), so, yes, I would assume the onus is on you to pay.

Well, it depends on the cost of water/sewer.  In Portland, for a 2 bed you're looking at $100/month.  

In any case, I'd do it.  The idea is to get tenants to use less water.  With a flat rate, you pay $50 (e.g.) whether you use no water or leave it on all day long.  With submeters, less you use, the less you pay.

DM and I can send some submeters.  Figure <$200/unit, however, you need to install them (cut water line and insert the flowmeter) so that's a variable cost.

I do my own XLS for prorates and then bill them.  If you want to use a 3rd party to bill, make sure they do collections also.