All Forum Posts by: William Huston

Hello All, 

So i am in this ever learning adventure to better my investments, i recently asked about managing the properties myself, i have always hired PM in the past so far and one very detailed post mentioned that she recommend that i purchase Quickbooks Pro and start learning the software now before i start self managing so i could do things right from the start. Since this would be all new to me, is there truly a better alternative or a reason i would really need to use quickbooks? Just curious as i have spent some time learning Podio and i am thinking i may be able to do the functions i need to do with quickbooks with podio for free or is there something specific i need the quickbooks for that i am unaware of since this is all new to me. 

Also if there is something better please give suggestions, i use an accountant to do my taxes on my current properties, i just send them the info. 

That was a lot of good information, i do have a few questions tho...

How much money are you recommending to leave aside for the first year? I was thinking of trying to use the 1031's to purchase 1 or 2 properties out right, or the other idea i was recommended by another investor since i am still young was to purchase the properties w/ 15yr mortgages since they still have very low interest rates vs 30yr loans and purchase a few properties that still cash flow with the 15yr loans with enough pay down with the 1031's. Basically he said to look for properties that would cash flow with a 30yr mortgage with the normal numbers, then apply it to a 15yr mortgage and offset it enough with 1031 + cash to make it cash flow still. 

Why do you recommend QuickBooks? I am curious what your using this for? i thought this was for tax prep.. in the past ive just used a tax accountant.

In regards to the LLC, this is one of the reasons i am wanting to sell all my properties and condense down to my local area/state, because when i purchased my houses while in the military, i bought them with my VA entitlement. I purchased 1 with tier 1, and the others with tier 2 with downpayments. So when i talked to the attorney about converting these into a LLC, I was told that they would no longer be guaranteed like a VA loan anymore, because the llc is not the veteran, so most banks will enforce them to be payed off in full afterwards. He told me if these were normal loans then i could probably get away with it, because they are secured differently from what i understood talking with him. Repurchasing would give me a chance to redo the process correctly in an LLC, Currently all my properties are in my name only.

In regards to the local LL Association, are you referring to Landlord association?

I am not sure how to find the estate info in the state of florida, i will have to look further into this. 

Look up the deed for the name of the deceased owner and any co-owners. The record just says estate of name of person, then has tax mailing address as the same address as the property thats abandoned. 

Check the probate records for heirs then contact them. I am trying to find additional info on this, so far everything leads back to the same info as the same property, with a disconnected number. 

Interesting, i was doing some quick searches.. on the uber site there is a FAQ and under that this statement is listed...

"For example, if you go online with your Uber app at home in Oakland, but drive to San Francisco before you get your first passenger, you can calculate how many miles you drove to the city and include those in your tax deductions."

I am curious if this is truly legal. I went to a local REIA meeting last night. When i arrived this newer looking Chevy Colorado Zr2 diesel pickup pulled up next to me in the parking lot at the same time as i was parking. I asked him if he was here for the REIA just trying to be friendly and he stated he was, but shortly after his phone went off and told me one second he had to log off the UBER app. So i just thought he was a uber driver on the side for extra money and i asked how profitable it was for driving a 4x4 truck for uber just out of curiosity. He mentioned he had no clue really, he stated he only uses it for tax purposes. So out of being intrigued i asked what did he mean, care to explain. He stated that he logs into the uber app when he leaves home, and when he arrives where he is going he logs out. This gives him a taxable log of him using the truck for business use while he travels to destinations he wants to go, for example the REIA meeting. He said the app will notify you when there is a ride available to take, but he just ignores them while he drives and only a handful of times he has taken a customer, purely because he noticed they were going to the same area he was driving to, basically along his route.

I have never written off my vehicle on my taxes, because i share it for both personal and business use, but is this truly a way to go about it? He said he uses this for when he is driving to and from his W2 job during the week, so his truck is "95%" business use. 

Also he stated that the Chevy truck he had is rated at 6,000lbs, so it allowed him to deduct the cost of the vehicle on his taxes over 5 years along with bonus deductions. 

 How do you deal with finding tenants, showing the property off when it becomes vacant from long distance?

I need to do more homework on the auction homes, i have some cash that i think i could pay cash at auction for a house in my area, but when i go to the sites and see all the data they list, i am unsure of all the troubles i could get into, how to protect myself during the buying process along with what happens to these debt numbers they list on the propertys. Example i went on auction.com and some of the properties list debt amounts, or say they are occupied and come with people living in them.. things like that. I just dont know enough about them to really feel comfortable bidding on one. I see ones in my area go for really cheap prices... 50/60/70% of the ARV, just dont know if its free and clear when you bid on them and win or what..

That is interesting, recently i came across an investor at a local REIA that mentioned he didnt buy properties for cash flow or low price, but he was an equity investor. Mentioned that the 300-600k price range here in Florida has a lot of room to generate equity and that he found it very easy to get atleast 10-20% equity instantly out of the deal. He said he would buy like a 500k property for 400-450k that barely needed any work, then he would rent it out just expecting to brake even at least on cashflow, but preferred a little cashflow. Then he would hold the property for 2-3yrs and then refinance it back to the 80% loan value, but typically in 2-3yrs he could pull out the 150-200k that was payed down on the loan via the renters and pocket the money for living income or use to pay for another property. At the time i spoke to him, he said he was averaging around 230k/yr in equity paid down by the renters on his properties.

What type of properties are you renting out?