Jump to content

dlatin

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    224
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by dlatin

  1. You have a thread?
    As far as taxes go, I’ve got no background, but I am an engineer and good with numbers, and I’ve not found it difficult to do our taxes with just our handful of rentals and w2s. Biggest difficulty is just remembering to keep up with your records as you go.  Especially mileage, as remembering where you went 12 months later can be tough if you didn’t happen to buy something on trip and forgot to log it. 
     
    I could see where you might want help by the time you had 8-10+ properties, or if you also had a smaller traditional business.  

    I’m in Finance and think I can do it myself. At the same time, with all that I have going on, having a professional handle it may be worth it come tax time.
  2. Great thread, I think I’ll use this to continue the discussion vs starting a new one. If you’ve been following my PSWPJFUD thread I bought a property a few doors down. It needs a ton of work first then we plan to rent it. Probably long term, there are a couple VRBOs next door. VRBO feels like more work. Based on this thread, an LLC isn’t necessarily. I should work with an agent to find tenants. Do I need to get help with tax prep or is it relatively straight forward?

  3. Kind of want to be a little careful here.  Do the sellers own other real property in the other town? Or just rent?
    If they haven't occupied and, as you said, have "abandoned" this property, it's not their homestead.  Regardless of the filing of the homestead exemption claim.  If they don't own other real property, then it's a little more arguable.

    I don’t know whether they are renting or own. I find it hard to believe they would have the money to own another property. At the end of the day, they would probably be fine paying the debtor to be done with it and collect what’s left at closing. If there was a way to to reduce how much is collected on this long outstanding debt, that would be great but perhaps figuring out how to get the title company the payoff schedule would work too. Maybe I should be working on that angle, tracking down the payoff document.
  4. In Texas, there is a process for the sellers to get the lien released from the property by filing a homestead lien release affidavit - if the property still qualifies as homestead. It requires notice to the lien holder and executing an affidavit. It fairly technical and should be done by an attorney.



    Thanks Jerry, I can see the property has a homestead exemption filed with the appraisal district. Sounds like we can hire an attorney to file a homestead lien release affidavit since liens can’t be assigned to homesteads?
  5. I’m in title and we would never ask a third party to make a determination about whether or not a lien affects the property. We would either put it onto commitment and require a release, or not show it at all and the decision would be made by our title officers or the underwriter. I’m not a lawyer but if they don’t live anymore is it still their homestead? And if not, shouldn’t the lien attach?

    Thanks HH, would you normally help facilitate the release by tracking it down in a case like this? I think the sellers got in contact with a lawyer to look into the lien but then they never heard back from the lawyer and they can’t seem to get in contact with him. So I think we are at a point there is a judgement filed with the county on the property dated back to 2007. Looks like there is another filing on the judgement that is dated 2014. I’m not sure if the sellers have any any information about who now owns the debt. I don’t want to reach out to this group out of Austin (F BBB rating) and pay off the lien unless it is attached to the homestead because it may not be necessary. I think the $7500 debt would now be about $22k with interest. It would seem like the title company would be able determine if the lien is attached to the homestead. Perhaps I should change title companies? I’m paying cash.

    There are 2 years of delinquent taxes too, and water meter was removed for non-payment.
  6. Your guess is correct, most likely. Judgments/liens in Texas mostly do not attach to homesteads. Exceptions are mortgages and tax/government liens. 
    You may need to hire a lawyer for the sellers basically or pay a bill. 
    The judgment is also probably dormant and now uncollectable, but that gets a little factual. 
    I am with you, this would seem to be prime title company expertise, but I guess they can't rely on their own evaluations for stuff like this. 
     

    Thanks, I was hoping the title company could lend more assistance but it doesn’t appear they do that, at least not this one…perhaps someone will be able to offer some direction. The property needs a ton of work and I’d like to work on it while I’m off work over the holidays.
  7. I'm noticing the part where you glossed over the gentrification & how you're throwing some old Hispanic couple out of their only home.

    Actually, we’ve been neighbors for 17 years and they abandoned this house 2 years ago and are living in a nearby town. I’ve offered to buy the house and help clear the lien and pay back taxes so they can have access to capital tied up in the property…as well as fix up a property that has a ton of potential.
    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 1
  8. I have a contract to buy a property that is known to have a judgement filed with the county for an unpaid debt related to a truck purchase .  The title company sent over a copy of the judgement dating back to 2007.  The title company asked me to ask the seller’s lawyer if the judgement is attached to the homestead.  If not, a letter from the lawyer will work, if yes, they’ll need the payoff statement.

    The seller is an older Hispanic couple that doesn’t speak English well so I’ve been working with their young daughter (maybe 20 years old) through the process.  I was told the lawyer they have been working with has not been much help and this has been going on for a while.  My understanding is this debt has been sold to a collector, the company listed on the judgement is Collins Asset Group out of Austin.  I’m hoping to get this closed quickly so I can work on the property over the holidays.  Best case scenario I think is this judgement is NOT attached to the homestead and we can close on the property without settling this judgement.  If it is attached, I assume I could maybe reach out to the collector?  As I mentioned, the judgement was filed 14 years ago.  Does anyone have any experience with something like this?  I was hoping the title company would track this down but it looks like more legwork needs to be done on our part.

  9. Season is coming to a close and I haven’t been out much since football season started but had to get on the water for a few last night. I had hoped to jump in the boat with my neighbors but since they didn’t go out I put her in to take a spin by myself and catch sunset.
    af7af811995c3b27aa693da6b9d478a2.jpg
    8bdc650d51eeabea7c3b50c914e6fb49.jpg
    c5b5a9681b1764076a756ac8c8ff2fbd.jpg
    b7e290cee12571cf7eabeb9df5b4ec0d.jpg

    • Hook 'Em 3
  10. The % of sailors, even seasoned sailors, who don't know how to tie a cleat hitch is way higher than you'd suspect. They think that a cleat hitch keeps it on but it's the wraps that do. Thin dinghy painter + big cleat = you need lots of wraps. Every year in the Bahamas a couple of dinghys get lost. The owners blame the locals on facebook ("Our dinghy was stolen!!") and half the time the dinghy is found days or weeks later by another cruiser on an island with outboard still attached.
    I never let another boater tie off my painter for that reason. Except one time this year I handed my painter to a buddy who's been a liveaboard for 6 years. I figured he for sure knew how to tie a cleat hitch. We were drinking in the cockpit of his boat (a monohull) and two hours later I noticed that my dinghy was gone. Fuuuuck. We grabbed a flash light (it was around midnight) and set off to find it in his dinghy. Even that alone was a big risk as if his outboard went out then we'd be turbo fucked. It took us an hour but we finally found it about a mile up the island. The current from the outgoing tide kept it pretty close to land fortunately.
     

    I definitely learned some lessons on this trip. Before we left the marina I talked to the whole crew about a man overboard situation and I was pretty proud how the 8 of us on the boat jumped into action and worked as a team to get my son on the boat, get the dinghy and a ball picked up.

    I had not planned to leave the ball in the dark in that situation until my son was out to sea not visible.
  11. 44 minutes ago, Viking said:

    If the boat still floats and the crew is all alive then you did good! What was the second crazy situation?

    Most casts lack backstays, so sailing deep down wind just freaks me out. The swept back shrouds just don't seem like they are back enough to provide that much support for all of the forward forces on the rigging. Yet somehow the masts don't fall down. Fucking magic I guess.

    We stayed on the beach late and dinghyed in at near dark.  I drive the dinghy and my buddy normally secures it to the cleat.  Later on I am at the back of the boat and realize the dinghy is gone.  I yell the dinghy is gone, he comes back and is saying we need to go find that dinghy.  We look and we can just make it out in the distance floating off.  There isn't much wind so we both dive in to swim to it.  It is pitch black behind us and we can just barely make out the grey dinghy pretty far off.  I quickly recognize this is a bad idea and turn to swim back to the boat and there's a slight current making it difficult to swim to the boat so i yell to throw us noodles.  We get back to the boat and i go to the front to assess our mooring ball and decide I'm not comfortable leaving our ball at night, I'm not sure if we'll be able to find it again at dark.  While I'm assessing this my son who is 16, and a lifeguard, dives in after the dinghy, I yell NO!  I know he will not be able to get it and he'll not be able to safely swim back.  We now can't see my son, I know he will soon be tiring and I know I have to go get him.  I run down to turn on the navigation lights and search light, start the engines then run up to take a mental note where the ball is relative to boats next to me and lights on land.  We release the lines and we search for him by the sound of his voice and some small flashlights.  We retrieve him and we then go grab the dinghy.  I now head to hopefully find the ball in darkness.  My buddy is pointing me off to the right but I know exactly where I'm headed and with my group with flashlights up front I pull right up to the ball and we tie off.  Son back in the boat, dinghy retrieved, back safe on the ball.  I had to make quick decisive moves, directing my crew, while keeping calm.  Once back on boat I sat on the back and broke down.  I relived that scenario over in my head many times since then.  Still makes me a bit emotional thinking about it.  Day 9, 2 crazy situations, one in the morning, one at night.  Every other day was all good.  I checked the lines every time after that.  I always double checked the lines for our mooring before, but I made sure that dinghy line was good thereafter.  Before we went to bed each night we put the dinghy on the transom and lift out of the water, but we normally left it off because we liked to watch the tarpon come swim our boat attracted to the underwater lighting.

    • Like 2
    • Rage+1 1
  12. Growing up we always did sailing vacations with the fam - but never had a water maker! In the beginning we didn't even have generators or AC. They are amazing vacations, and I think especially amazing for kids. My oldest has gone to the BVI, but my two youngest still haven't had the chance, although they have enjoyed a lot of center console boating in the keys.
    Living in a boat takes a certain type. My parents intended to do the great loop this year on their '79 Hatteras 58ft Yachtfish, but soon realized that most of the loopers are boaters, and not yachtsmen. My dad is the type that keeps the boat pristine. Nothing out on deck - tied up a very particular way, stickler for the rules, etc. He has his 200 ton license. He considers himself at yachtsmen. Snobby? Probably... but still.  So, they abandoned that idea to just stick with the ICW. They are currently in Maine and will soon work back down to go to the bahamas, and then to Marathan for a few months. I posted it before I think, but here's "Gus" docked in Manchester by the Sea (not a traditional name to be sure). She was there while we fished out of Gloucester for tuna. 
     
    IMG_3885.thumb.jpg.68e49c5e8891314870f26b1e8462ce17.jpg

    That’s awesome. It definitely takes a certain type to live on a boat, even vacation on one. We are pretty laid back low maintenance so it limits who we would consider spending time with in such little space. We thought this family was probably one of the rare few. It ended up being about as good as it could be expected, rolling with your own tribe on the boat is greatness however. I actually enjoyed it because I’m a doer and this was their first time in St John so I had a group I you could share it with while my wife was content just chilling on the boat uninterrupted.

    My kids loved both sailing trips, this is probably my favorite picture from our trip to the BVIs in 2017 (moored at Cooper Island). They were 10 and 12.
    132836785ab4728f6c28e43745428767.jpg
    • Like 3
    • Drool 1
  13. I’ll also say I felt a bit of pressure being responsible for 9 (2 families). I didn’t sleep as well on this trip as I was always listening, feeling, getting up to check on things. We also had a pretty dicey situation on Day 9 that made me really need to step up and take charge with decisive quick decisions as we got caught in a pretty big storm as we were sailing down wind with a lot of sail out. The winch set up was challenging and they were lacking clutches I thought was needed to perform tasks efficiently. Then at the end of that same day we had another crazy situation I had to handle that was for me just as scary if not more. I learned a lot about my abilities and was proud of how i captained the boat.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
  14. So, are you going to stick with the sailboat in the future, or go back to hotels and whatnot? 

    This is our 2nd bareboat charter. I would do sailboat every trip if I could but it can be a bit pricey. We eventually plan to live on a boat. This trip taught me I need a lot more practice on a Catamaran. Not sure if it was the boat or what but I thought it was challenging. When we chartered the Mono in ‘17 I essentially handled that with no issues the whole 10 day trip. We sailed the entire time absent 1 day we had to motor due to no wind.

    The water maker we had on this boat was a game-changer. It will be hard to charter a boat without ones. I think most boats out of STT have them, not so much out of the BVIs.
  15. Oh, don't get me started.  
    My favorites are the people who park their cars on the ramps and work their dogs retrieving in the water.  True heroes.
    And the annoyed looks on their faces when you start to back down the trailer is quite a nice little bonus.  Yeah, because I'm the asshole here, launching my boat on the BOAT RAMP.

    The running beef I have on our lake that started a few years ago with all the newbies coming here is the peeps that decide the best place to float and swim is right in the middle of the lake by the damn. We are on a small lake so this puts them right in the middle of all the traffic, toobs, surfers, etc. Not just off the edges or back behind areas coves buoyed off for boating. If you look around, you would notice where all the other boats that are just floating/swimming are parked. It pretty obvious.

    I had this one guy literally swimming across busiest part of the lake. I barely caught his small head popping above water and it freaked me out how easy it would be to run him over, again, this is a small lake. I stopped to tell him what he is doing is extremely dangerous. He just waved me off. We didn’t see him a bit later and I was convinced he had indeed been run over and I was sick to my stomach. We did end up seeing him. That was crazy.



  16. Driving to the marina to turn in the boat . We sailed a 42’ Fountaine Pajot Austrea catamaran for the last week or so, 4 bedroom 4 baths. We stayed on mooring balls just off some of the prettiest beaches in St John for 9 nights and we spent 1 night on a ball off Great St James that is just off St. Thomas. We originally planned to sail British waters too but stayed in US waters due to Covid. We spent 3 nights at Maho, 2 nights at Trunk, 2 nights at Salt Pond, 1 night at Little Lamshur, 1 night at Honeymoon (STJ), and 1 night at Christmas cove. We’ve been coming to STJ for 20 years and it was great to see it from a different viewpoint.

    94291bb8ada958cf55b55da7bcf7c68e.jpg
    e383e61459f79c8db7c5ee9e8917aebe.jpg
    72d22eea0ff5c12a8e3ff71f3cec89aa.jpg

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 2
×
×
  • Create New...