Thanks in advance!
I am 32 and (hopefully) on a path to fatFIRE. Work in tech, income has been steady at ~$600-700K for a few years now. My net worth is around $3M, pretty much all of it in the stock market.
The only "problem" is that I have zero debt, and don't own any real estate. With interest rates set to hike and all the <2.5% 30-year mortgages on the edge of disappearing, I think it makes sense for me to utilize this credit line. However I don't plan to stick around in the Bay Area for too long, and so buying a house here as a primary residence doesn't make sense. I am happy renting for the foreseeable future. My options:
- Decide on where to live long term and buy a house there.
- Buy a property (in the Bay Area or elsewhere) and rent it out, maybe with the option of moving into it down the line.
- Buy a property in a "hot" vacation city and rent it out for short stints (think AirBnb or the like) and also occasionally use.
- Do nothing, keep investing in stocks.
Has anyone been in my situation and picked one of these options? I'm particularly intrigued by #3, since it seems to offer a lot of flexibility with low effort (assuming I can find a good management company to take care of things). What are your recommendations for my situation?
Most of the general advice I am reading about in similar questions is, "Just go for it, the worst they can say is no." But there has to be a better way.
A house I have been watching for the past few months has been on/off the market for about a year. A nearly duplicate house next-door sold for $70k by the same business. (Seller is a water park company.)
They shared the water line, and that $70k house took it when it was sold. They tell me it costs about 10k to install a new water line. The other major cost is how the roof needs to be replaced. For easy math, I estimate this will cost another 10k.
So far, without seeing the house, the maximum I would negotiate to is $50k. The land is probably worth $30-40k. However, they are asking $100k! The sister house was somewhat overpriced before they dropped the price. They have not dropped the price for the current house yet. It's wildly overpriced.
Besides waiting for the seller to marginally reduce their asking price, what is a better way to go about making a "lowball" offer?
If a canadian buys a home in the USA and his income only comes from investments. Meaning he doesnt work for anyone or run any American business does that breach his vacation visa? (Assuming he goes to Canada every few months to visit family & celebrate holidays)
The title says it. Looking for a real estate agent who specializes in vacation rental properties. TIA
Hi guys, hope everyone is doing well & merry Christmas to all.
My family recently travelled to the infamous Riu Palace resort; it was our first time in CR and thought resort was a good step stone for us to get to know the country a bit (esp during covid). We now have our mind set to return to CR next year but this time we want to rent a property instead of locking ourselves inside a resort.
My question is - what is the best way to do a short term vacation rental? I presume AirBnB would be an option but was curious to see if there’s any better alternatives. Safety is the most concern but from what I’ve seen, it shouldn’t be a big issue.
Thanks in advance!
I want to know which country/city are good investments at the moment, considering occupancy rate and rental price, cost of property, market growth, etc...
Which country are the best picks? I am thinking Tulum, Philipines, Bali...
What are your opinions?
Just as we started re-opening our economy here in Toronto, it looks like the delta-variant is going to make for a nasty winter. We have colleagues who moved to the Bahamas/Cayman Islands to escape from Covid, and apparently life is fully normal there.
Since our work is remote for the foreseeable future, I'm starting to explore moving to the Bahamas as a reprieve from our covid lock-downs and impending fourth wave. Other than this thread, I haven't found much context. Our colleagues who have done the move are all 9+figure fatFIRE, so they won't have the same realities that we do...
Some details: This would be our primary residence for the cold months, and could potentially be a permanent vacation/rental property. Budget ~$1-1.5M USD. Not really set on the Bahamas in particular, but seems like the most accessible, while still having low covid and a decent economy. I've been checking Sotheby's and it looks like you can get a decent place for that money.
Some questions for those with experience or who currently live there...
- Any considerations for owning property in the Bahamas? Any special considerations in terms of financing this? I assume we'd deal with our Canadian Banks, but not entirely sure....
- Any areas to recommend or avoid?
- Would it be ok to travel and stay for prolonged periods on a tourist visa or would we need to seek residence status? As Canadian citizens, I see that we're allowed to stay for up to 8 consecutive months which would cover our use-case.
- Tax implications?
- Telecom infrastructure? We're both remote tech workers, so we spend our days on google hangouts. Reliable and fast internet is critical
- Health-care coverage or considerations?
- Car- do you own one and keep it on the island or take a long-term rental?
- Safety: any concerns with your security situation?
- Schooling: how is the quality of childcare and education? We have a nanny who would likely join us on this adventure.
- Any services that you would recommend to facilitate this? Do you work with a property manager?
Sorry for the long post, obviously I'm very early in the discovery phase, but any and all context is hugely valuable.
I was never really aware of reporting AirBnB income until this tax ID information request so they can submit 1099s for $600 vs $20,000.
I only rent my main home's secondary apartment for college football season and graduation where I can get premium income for my time.
Suddenly realizing I might now be getting a 1099-K for renting my apartment, I was concerned of the value of my efforts of hosting.
I just came across this though. IRS Tax Topic No. 415, which declares you don't have to report income if you rent your main home for less than 14 days out of the year.
https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc415
I hope this stays, because that easily covers my hosting time. In fact, I will never host more than 14 days due to this rule.
Just making sure all are aware.
My sister has a vacation home in Florida; we live in Georgia. I was using it for a few days. The day I arrived (Thursday), the doorbell ranged when I went to check, it was a package in my sister's name on the porch. When I called her, she told me to open it. Someone ordered an iPhone and Apple watch from T-Mobile in her name. She would not have been wiser if I was not there for a long weekend.
She pulled all her credit reports and we can see a soft inquiry from sprint. She has since frozen her credit and added a fraud alert.
I personally went to the nearest T-Mobile store the same day and returned the items unopened and explain the situation while my sister was on Facetime with me. T-Mobile was being very difficult. My sister had to go to a T-Mobile store in GA while I waited for the manager to call the FL store so they could close the account and I could return the items. I made sure I got a receipt and the manager's full name. My sister will check this week once I give her the receipt to make sure the account is close and she has no balance.
I was nervous the entire weekend because I am sure the person that ordered the stuff probably came to pick them up and it was not there. I was able to add 2 security cameras attach close to the roof with the help of her neighbor's husbands (one across the street and on her left side). They both will also keep an eye out . I also knocked on the door of the neighbor on the right hand side (a old lady), she will also keep an eye out for strangers. All three have my sister's mobile number (1 of them already had it but I gave it to the other 2).
Have a vacation house I want to get a hot tub for, I’m worried about maintenance for a place we’re not at regularly - maybe once a month, sometimes more often, sometimes less often. Looking at hot springs freshwater salt system with the idea that it should mostly stay sanitary when I’m not there with maybe a bit of adjustment when I get back. Is this realistic or am I dreaming? Anything else I should be considering?
Edit: this isn’t a rental, nobody will use the tub when I’m not there. Really looking to know if there’s anything I should do before leaving to ensure the water stays decent while gone.
