All Forum Posts by: Thomas C.
Thomas C. has started 3 posts and replied 13 times.
Post: Title Companies in North Platte - Nebraska

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
Try here:
Title Services of the Plains
532 8535
Area code is 308
Post: Brandon is looking for testimonials from YOU - Pro Member! :)

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
Brandon,
Today I am a Biggerpockets.com Pro member, but just one short year ago I was clueless about how to get started in real estate investing. I found Biggerpockets.com and started reading blogs, asking questions in the forums, watching videos and using the calculators to understand how to analyze deals. I found the forums to be an awesome place to get answers to any and every question I had. This summer I watched a couple of webinars and that's what really opened my eyes and gave me the confidence I needed to buy my first property. Specifically one on How to Analyze Rentals and another on How to Buy Small Multifamily Properties. I made an offer in July and by late August I was the proud owner of a new 4-unit multifamily rental property. I went from being a complete newbie to an owner of three rental properties in a matter of months and I couldn't have done it without the help of the staff and members of Biggerpockets.com.
Post: Webinar for CPAs: Section 179 and 100% bonus

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
I did, thanks Mike!
Post: Webinar for CPAs: Section 179 and 100% bonus

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
@Michael Plaks, I saw this late. Did you also receive a download? I'd be interested if so.
Post: Active Participation - Anyone have audit experience with this?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
@Michael Plaks and @Ashish Acharya, thanks for the replies! I’m a little more relieved to hear these responses. ESPECIALLY from Tax Accountants!
Post: Active Participation - Anyone have audit experience with this?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
I've seen people in the BP forums with differing opinions on the topic (shocker!). Some say as soon as you get a Property Manager you are passive no matter what. Others quote the readily available Internet information saying "if you (and your spouse) owned at least 10% of the rental property and you made management decisions"... blah, blah.
But I'm curious to know, has anyone in the forums actually been audited to be able to speak authoritatively on this subject? Has anyone with a prop. mgr. been audited and proved that they actively participated in the rental activities and been deemed by the IRS as actively participating?
Post: Personal Line of Credit - Use it or leave it alone?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
great points @Costin I.
Post: Personal Line of Credit - Use it or leave it alone?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
@David Morgan I completely agree that leveraging debt vice equity is my default as well. I just see so many people jumping on this HELOC to pay mortgages trip that I'm starting to look into it and ask why they would do it. I'm going to search through what @Costin I. mentioned to see if I find an alternative I think may work better.
Post: Personal Line of Credit - Use it or leave it alone?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
Thanks Costin
Post: Should I buy a multifamily built in 1872?

- Rental Property Investor
- Williamsburg, VA
- Posts 13
- Votes 6
I'm a newbie to rental real estate but I know a little more about home plumbing and wiring that might help you make a decision.
1) The rebuild value of an older home like that can be pretty high requiring a higher insurance premium. I agree with others that foundation, electrical and plumbing are going to be your biggest issues if they date back to the original build. But in the case of disaster or catastrophic loss, the rebuild costs of an older home can be a lot higher than that of a recent home. Depends on a number of factors though so knowing more about the home would help.
2) Regardless of how "solid" iron plumbing can be (iron tends to last roughly 100+ years), it's been 146 years since that home was built. Brass lasts roughly 40-70+ years, steel: 20-50, copper: 50+. Just pray to God it isn't lead, which can last for 100+ years but has inherent safety hazards. Even though cities started moving away from lead in the 1920s, it wasn't officially banned until 1986!
3) Since most homes in the U.S. didn't have electrical wiring until 1915, your potential investment home had to have been retrofitted. How long ago and with what materials is the burning question. I own a rental property originally built in 1935 and most of the outlets and service boxes were not grounded when retro'd because it wasn't required by code in the 1960s. It also has fuses instead of circuit breakers which is problematic, expensive, cumbersome and potentially dangerous since they do not have AFCI capability and only interrupt the flow of electricity by blowing instead of "breaking" the flow like a tripped circuit breaker.
Note: AFCI circuit breakers only became mandatory in the U.S. as of 2002 for bedrooms. In 2008 the NEC began requiring them for all dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms in new construction. Any circuit breakers installed before then likely don't have that capability but it's as simple as removing the panel cover, installing the new breaker and connecting the white coiled wire. Hint: most breaker manufacturers print "CAFCI", "AFCI" or "AFI" on the face of the breaker. Another way to tell (in case the print is under the panel cover), an AFCI's "Test" button is green, blue or white, GFCI is typically yellow.
You might want to visit this site for reading up on some of your questions: