All Forum Posts by: Yair Zarmon

Really appreciate all the insights. Your responses say a lot about where the STR market stands right now!

@Michael Baum loved listening to your insight on the BP podcast. I'm also keen on "less is more" and would rather own as little properties as possible while still hitting my financial goals.

@Stephen Nelson @Travis Timmons - with a $127K tax bill coming, I've got to act fast but smart. I'm aware that I won't be able to buy $4M worth of real estate this year, but even $1M can significantly reduce the tax liability and that's why I'm exploring this option more in depth (meeting with a CPA this week to validate this). It's the trial and error of the STR experience I cannot afford that is my main concern, and all of you are really hitting the nail here.

I want to make it clear that my goal IS long term, so not merely for short term tax purposes.

@Travis Timmons @John Underwood, that makes sense. However, I’ve been planning to enter STRs for a while now, and this is a great opportunity to finally put my plans into action. We’re also looking at a sizable tax liability, so this strategy is a key part of mitigating that. I don't have hospitality experience but I have served clients for over 15 years now, perhaps I can ramp up quickly considering transferable skills. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to offset some of the W-2 income as well. 

@Ian Tyndall, I appreciate the breakdown! Wouldn’t the Smokies and Florida Panhandle be saturated by now? I feel like even if you underwrite everything and the cash-on-cash return and potential revenue look good on paper, they’d still be far off in reality.

Hi BP Community,

Newbie real estate investor here looking for some guidance from those with more experience.

I'm in a unique situation where I need to quickly purchase and manage a few short-term rentals (STRs). The reason? I sold a number of securities this year and must reduce my capital gains tax liability. To do this, I need to acquire STRs and prove material participation. That's not the hard part...the real challenge is choosing the right market on a short timeline without prior STR experience.

I’ve spent countless hours researching, underwriting, and convincing myself I’ve found the perfect market - only to second-guess and start over. I’d really appreciate any guidance or recommendations from those who have been through this process before.

Key details:

1. Out-of-state investing: I’m comfortable being a remote investor. With today’s automation tools, managing from a distance isn’t an issue.

2. Budget and financing: I have $250K set aside for this investment, and financing is essential to qualify for bonus depreciation and cost segregation - key strategies for offsetting my long-term capital gains.

3. Time sensitivity: I need to prove at least 500 hours of material participation before December 31, 2025, so time is of the essence.

If anyone has market recommendations or insights, I’d love to hear them! 

Hi folks,

Nice to meet you all. I am a newbie investor and looking to begin kickstart journey. I'd like to your feedback on two options I'm considering. I've read many discussion on this forum, but nothing really comes close to your own experience. 

I have access to $250k (tied to my stock portfolio) that I would like to invest in real estate. I've read several books on REI thus far but realize that the great minds on this forum can also provide significant and relevant insight on strategies they'd apply in current market conditions if they could start over with $250k in cash.

For context, my family and I reside out-of-country, at the moment, but will likely return to the US in 1-2 years. Nevertheless, our first few moves will be executed while abroad. My wife and I have 3 kids, so house hacking wouldn't be an option for us.

The options we had in mind are as follows:

1. BRRRR: All-cash purchase and rehab of a SFH or small multi-family up to $250k. Wait for first few fed rate cuts and refinance to purchase the next property, and onwards. It could make sense to take advantage of minimal competition and relatively "low" home prices while interest rates are still high.

2. Buy and hold a turnkey SFH with 20-25% down. Get our feet wet and gain some experience in this space and, in 6 months to one year, either purchase another SFH with a mortgage or go for an all-cash purchase and start BRRRRing. My fear is that acquiring a of couple properties with a mortgage and then BRRRR later will likely put us in a position where we won't have as much cash left for an "all-cash" purchase and then BRRRR.

A few other points for context:

1. We have excellent credit and can quite easily qualify for a mortgage.

2. We do not own a single property and have zero debt.

3. We have aggressive goals as they pertain to real estate investing, and plan to be fully dependent on it in 5-10 years to replace our W2s (currently at $300k).

4. We're open to other strategies i.e. short and medium term rentals. 

What would you do if you were in our position? :)

Hi All,

I'm a newbie investor and very much looking forward to kickstarting my career in RE. Your help here will be greatly appreciated, and remembered!

I have been listening to David Greene and read a few of his books on the BRRR method. Purchasing an investment property in cash and refinancing it based on its ARV makes a lot of sense and is aligned with my long-term goals.

My situation is as follows:

1. I have a stock portfolio currently valued at $500k+, and an all-cash purchase means that I'll need to sell some shares and pay long-term capital gains tax (15%). 

2. I do not have a sufficient amount in savings to complete an all-cash purchase without selling shares (I'd be looking at properties valued at roughly $100k-$150k).

I can do the following:

1. Sell $180k worth of shares (this will roughly net $150k after capital gains taxes) to put an all-cash offer on an investment property and start the BRRR route.

2. Take out a margin loan at X interest rate, maintain the current stock portfolio without selling shares, and put an all-cash offer on an investment property.

Given the factors I mentioned above and today's economy climate, would it make sense to take out a margin loan to finance my initial purchase? Is the interest in a margin loan much lower than a traditional mortgage? How would leveraging a margin loan affect refinancing of the same property?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts :)