Real Estate Investors Association of Greater Cincinnati


City of Cincinnati Housing Providers: Take Heed

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City of Cincinnati Housing Providers: Take Heed
City of Cincinnati Has Rules That You Need to Know  by James Flax, Esq.
 
In addition to the normal rules governing landlord tenant relations in Ohio, the City of Cincinnati has its own rules—and you need to know them before you decide to expend your time and hard-earned money providing rental housing in the City, rather than in one of the other 52 adjacent cities and townships in our area.

Because I have made poor choices in my life such as going to Law School and passing the Bar exam, it is my fate to read such great literature as Chapter 871 of the Cincinnati Code of Ordinances.  To spare you the same fate I am going to try to pull out the things you need to know, and explain them.

Chapter 871 is not well drafted.  It contains numerous ambiguities and poorly defined terms.  This is not really all that rare in the law, but it does open the door to ugly outcomes.  When a law is uncl
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Is Wholesaling Still Do-Able in 2022? (The Whole, Unvarnished Truth)

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              Ah, for the good old days of 2009.

              Finding deals was SO easy.

              We didn’t even need a marketing budget; there were literally thousands of bank-owned and short sale deals just sitting right there in MLS, and a day of looking at 15 houses and making offers would usually turn up at least one at literally fifty cents on the dollar.

              Of course, figuring out what “fifty cents on the dollar” meant was a guessing game; so few houses were selling that coming up with comps was nearly impossible.

              And getting those deals sold was a teeth-gritting, anxiety-producing process, too; even at a 40% discount, there weren’t a ton a motivated cash buyers in the market, and when we called 10 who’d specifically identified that kind of property in that area as their favorite, they’d all say, “Yeah, I might be able to get there in the next week or 2”. Buyers saw no reason to go runnin
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Why it’s Hard to Learn Creative Finance (or Anything Else You’re Struggling With)

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Why it’s Hard to Learn Creative Finance (or Anything Else You’re Struggling With)

When a topic (say, real estate, or creative real estate), or anything else) is brand-new to you, it's easy to hear, read, watch, whatever it is you do, something that strikes you as true and valuable...

But because your brain doesn't have anything to relate it to, it seems to store it in a place that's not accessible when you want it.

It's like there's a set of organized files for some things (I know how to quilt, or play the guitar, or drive to the grocery store) that if something else comes in that can be related to those "(I'm learning how to make collages, oh, hey, it's similar to making quilts. Here's a ukulele, oh, it feels like a tiny guitar, but oh, hey, the tuning is different this way. I need to go to my friend's house, oh, it's go to the grocery store and then turn left, right, left") it's easy to process and remember.

If there's nothing in there that the brain can relate to what you just learned, the new info seems to go into a junk drawer--or get misfiled.

"They're talking about options on houses. Those sound awesome. Apparently, you need some cash, which I have, and a seller who doesn't really want to sell, whi
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Budget for closing costs

Colorado Reia

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Entering into escrow on a home can be both exciting and stressful. The excitement comes from knowing you are close to moving into the new home. The stress comes from issues that will arise.

Budget for Closing Costs, Prepaid Loan Interest, and Home Insurance Premiums

As part of any closing, you need to go through certain steps to make sure you are both getting what you think you have purchased as well as paying for it. Each of these steps has an associated cost, known as closing costs. You have to pay them before you can take possession of the home. If you do not, the deal will not close and you will lose the home.

When going through escrow, costs associated with closing can accumulate quickly. Here is a closer look.

Cost Considerations

Prepaid loan interest is an ugly little surprise for many first time home-buyers. The lender will often require you to pay the interest that accumulates between the day the loan is funded and the day you are actually scheduled to make your first loan payment. Many people mistakenly believe they have roughly a month before they have to start paying. This is rarely the case. The sudden requirement to pay a hundreds or thousands of dollars can be a nightmare. If at all possible, you should try to get the lender to fund the loan as close as possible to the actual closing date, even on it. Try to avoid closing the loan on a Monday. The lender will have to fund the loan the previous work week, which mean
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Cryptocurrency Taxation

Utah Real Estate Investors Association

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"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." -Robert Louis Stevenson

In recent years, some cryptocurrency traders have been caught off guard by the surprise tax bill generated from their trading activities. Many others have simply failed to report these transactions to the IRS at all, unaware that they even need to. Those folks in particular are in for a rude awakening someday, as the IRS expands its enforcement against crypto traders.

So, what are your responsibilities as a crypto trader? What if you’re not actively trading these assets, but simply holding them? What records should you be keeping?

Crypto is Taxed as Property
Let’s start with the most important thing you need to understand about crypto, and its relationship with the IRS: The federal government taxes crypto like property.

In other words, the IRS looks at crypto the same way it looks at houses, cars, paintings, even baseball cards. While
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Cincinnati "Renter's Choice" Law requires rental deposit alternatives and much more

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The City of Cincinnati now requires that all rental housing providers who "own and control more than 25 units" offer alternatives to a full rental deposit, including so-called "deposit insurance" or the option of paying the deposit over several months.

This ordinance also re-defines retaliatory eviction as any eviction that occurs within 6 months of a tenant reporting code violations or other conditions to applicable authorities, unless the housing provider can prove "by a preponderance of evidence" that the eviction is due to the tenant laying waste to or illegally using the property, or the owner wants to move into the house or remove it from the rental market permanently, or the property must be vacated to make repairs. 

It contains a disclosure that must be given to residents prior to move in, as well.


Click to read final version of new law: Renters Choice  

Recorded council session click HERE