All Forum Posts by: Sophia Maler

@ariel 

@Ariel Smith thank you! I'm not quite sure I will be selling yet. What markets you see the local investors flocking to? 

Good evening BP!

My name is Sophie and I have been passively following the forums on biggerpockets for several years. My goal is early retirement after paying for my kids' college, but I want to have something to do and keep making money after I retire, so I started looking into REI.

I own a small rental in SF Bay Area, but this market became very inflated and I’m thinking perhaps I should 1031 out of here. I also travel to Seattle quite a bit but this market is too very hot and difficult to enter.

Out of state investment is not my #1 choice. However, being a college mom, the idea of student rentals in college cities has recently crossed my mind. I'm still in the research phase, looking for advice on how to approach this particular type of investment. Syndication is also of interest for commercial REI.

I’m looking forward to learning from the BP community!

Deanna, I went through all this with them. I bought their current place (tiny studio, not really a home for two, just a place to crash at night) in 2014, because the market was crazy and all I could get was this place (I had to beat 10 offers).  This place rents for about $1600-1700 a month. They live it it now.

Last week they found a nicer home and fell in love with it. If I rented a similar place for them, I would have to add about $500 to $600 a month from the trust funds. It would eventually deplete trust funds. There is no way to invest $200K to produce this much cash a month tax-free.  

So I'm thinking about buying it for them instead. The current place is very difficult to loan, so I will have to mortgage the larger unit and use the rent from the smaller one to pay the mortgage.  

So here are the numbers: 

Current unit:  $320K market value / $1600 rent

Larger unit:  $540k market value/ $2400 rent

I would love your thoughts! 

Claira, I don't have a spreadsheet or pros-cons analysis list. I didn't do this before, seems like I need to do some homework.

My other option is renting out the current property and finance it. I can use the cash from the financing for downpayment on a more expensive, better property.  There should be enough cash in the trust to pay for the rest of the second property. I just need to be careful with the financing to make sure the rent is covering it.  I'm not sure this plan holds water though.  

I'm a trustee of an SNT trust. The beneficiary is asking me to sell their current home (they live in it) and buy  them a better place. The problem is that both properties would be in SF Bay Area, so I will have to finance the second home, there is no enough cash in the trust for the all-cash offer even if I sell the current property.

I can get roughly $300K for the current property (after all expenses and taxes) or rent it for $16-17k a year (after all expenses).  I will likely have to assume a capital gain at the time of the sale (taxable to the trust at 20%). I'm debating if I should keep this property as a trust investment because it is so hard to fund anything for 300K here! 

Keep or toss?  

Thank you! 

The tenant is not logical.  She says one thing and does another, so negotiation didn't get me any results.  Maybe it has something to do with her age - she is 70 years old.

Just to clarify:

1) I was willing to let the tenant out with 30-days written notice before the end of the lease, even though I didn't have to.

2) The tenant only gave me 15 days and paid for half month.

3) The tenant moved out after 17 days but kept my key and failed to clean the carpet by the projected move-out date.

4) The tenant says I can keep the SD (which is less then half-rent still) . She is also willing to pay me the cleaning fee of $75 per my request.

I'm not sure what is legal for me to do in this case:  

Is it legal for me to keep the SD without being dragged to the courtroom?

Can I enter the apartment for changing the carpet and any necessary repairs/updates?

She moved out to the apartment next door and still has my key to clean the unit and check the mail. She surrendered one set of keys and one garage opener when we met and promised me to leave the second set in the apartment.

My parents never intended to move in before the end of the lease. I was just being flexible to make it easier for the tenant to find a new place to leave, since it is really hard to find rentals and movers during the holidays.  And she used it against me. The unit is in move-in condition and does not require any major work. I was going to replace the carpet and was willing to wave the carpet stains and return her SD in full if she paid the lease in full for November.

So if I was to keep the SD - how can I prevent her from suing me for that? I don't want to take her to the courtroom, just wanted to make sure I do my part.

Last night when we met, she stated that it is illegal for me to use the SD for the unpaid rent - because I cleared the last check for half month. Does she have grounds for claiming it back?

The tenant is trying to bully be into returning her security deposit because she will be "my neighbor".  This really pisses me off.

Is it legal to keep the deposit?