IRA is short for Individual Retirement Account, one form of retirement savings. There are plenty of ways to save for retirement. Some people contribute to a 401(k) through their work. Others choose savings accounts, online…
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Since the coronavirus quarantine began, many people have been forced to work from home. If you didn’t have a home office before the pandemic, you might have had a few expenses to set one up. I’ve received several questions about what benefits are allowed for home offices during the COVID-19 crisis.
One question came in on the QDT coronavirus question page. Money Girl reader Ian said:
"I have a question about next year's taxes and working from home. For the past 13 weeks, I have been forced to work from a home office. (I am a regular W-2 employee, not self-employed.) I have had some expenses come up that were brought about by working from home: a computer upgrade so I can better connect to Wi-Fi, a new router, and even a desk chair so I am comfortable while I work. Should I be keeping track of those expenses? Will they be deductible? My employer is not going to reimburse them. Thank you for your help!"
Another question came from Miki, who used my contact page at Lauradadams.com to reach me. She said:
"Hi, Laura, and thank you for a wonderful podcast! I've been listening for years and have always thought that you'd have a show for any question I could ever think of. But this new situation with COVID-19 has made me think of something that I'm sure many of us are dealing with right now.
"To start working from home, I had to spend quite a bit of money to get my home office on par with my actual office. I know you've done episodes on claiming home office expenses on taxes before, but could you do an episode on whether we can claim home office expenses on our taxes next year? And if we can, things we should start thinking about now (aside from saving the receipts)?"
Thanks for your kind words and thoughtful questions! I'll explain who qualifies for a home office tax deduction and serve up some tips for claiming it.
Here's the detail on five things you should know about qualifying for the home office tax deduction in 2020.
The CARES Act changed many personal finance rules—including specific tax deadlines, retirement distributions, and federal student loan payments—but the home office tax deduction is not one of them. In a previous post and podcast, Your Guide to Claiming a Legit Home Office Tax Deduction, I covered the fact that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 drastically changed who can claim this valuable deduction.
Before the TCJA, you could claim a home office deduction whether you worked for yourself or for an employer either full- or part-time. Unfortunately, W-2 employees can no longer take advantage of this tax benefit. Now, you must have self-employment income to qualify. My guess is that the IRS was concerned that it was too easy to abuse this benefit and reined it in.
Before the TCJA, you could claim a home office deduction whether you worked for yourself or for an employer either full- or part-time. Unfortunately, W-2 employees can no longer take advantage of this tax benefit.
The best option for an employee is to request expense reimbursement from your current or future employer even though they're not obligated to pay you. If you get pushback, make a list of all your home office expenses so it's clear how much you spent on their behalf. They might consider it for your next cost of living raise or bonus.
Unless Miki or Ian have a side business that they started or will start, before the end of 2020, they won't get deductions to help offset their home office setup costs.
Let’s say you use a space in a home that you rent or own for business purposes in 2020. There are two pretty straightforward qualifications to qualify for the home office deduction:
You could use a spare bedroom or a hallway nook to run your business. You don’t need walls to separate your office, but the space should be distinct—unless you qualify for an exemption, such as running a daycare. It’s permissible to use a separate structure, such as a garage or studio, as your home office if you use it regularly for business.
You must use your home as the primary place you conduct business—even if it’s just for administrative work, such as scheduling and bookkeeping. However, your home doesn’t have to be the only place you work in. For instance, you might work at a coffee shop or meet clients there from time to time and still be eligible for a home office tax deduction.
If you work for yourself in any trade or business, either full- or part-time, and your primary office location is your home, you have a home business. No matter what you call yourself or your business, if you have self-employment income and do any portion of the work at home, you probably have an eligible home office. You might sell goods and services as a small business, freelancer, consultant, independent contractor, or gig worker.
If you work for yourself in any trade or business, either full- or part-time, and your primary office location is your home, you have a home business.
As I previously mentioned, the work you do at home could just be administrative tasks for your business, such as communication, scheduling, invoicing, and recordkeeping. Many types of solopreneurs and trades do most of their work away from home and still qualify for a legitimate home office deduction. These may include gig economy workers, sales reps, and those in the construction industry.
If you run a business from home, your direct home office expenses qualify for a tax deduction. These are costs to set up and maintain your office, such as furnishings, installing a phone line, or painting the walls. These costs are 100% deductible, no matter the size of the office.
Additionally, you’ll have costs that are related to your office that affect your entire home. For instance, if you’re a renter, the cost of rent, renters insurance, and utilities are examples of indirect expenses. You’d have these expenses even if you didn’t have a home office.
If you own your home, potential indirect expenses typically include mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, utilities, and maintenance. You can't deduct the principal portion of your mortgage payment, which is the amount borrowed for the home. Instead, you’re allowed to recover a part of the cost each year through depreciation deductions, using formulas created by the IRS.
Allowable indirect expenses actually turn some of your personal costs into home office business deductions, which is fantastic! They’re partially deductible based on the size of your office as a percentage of your home—unless you use a simplified calculation, which I’ll cover next.
If you qualify for the home office deduction, there are two ways you can calculate it: the standard method or the simplified method.
The standard method requires you to keep good records and calculate the percentage of your home used for business. For example, if your home office is 12 feet by 10 feet, that’s 120 square feet. If your entire home is 1,200 square feet, then diving 120 by 1,200 gives you a home office space that’s 10% of your home.
In this example, 10% of your qualifying expenses could be attributed to business use, and the remaining 90% would be for personal use. If your monthly power bill is $100 and 10% of your home qualifies for business use, you can consider $10 of the bill a business expense.
To claim the standard deduction, use Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home, to figure out the expenses you can deduct and then file it with Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business.
The simplified method doesn’t require you to keep any records, which makes it incredibly easy to claim. You can claim $5 per square foot of your office area, up to a maximum of 300 square feet. So, that caps your deduction at $1,500 (300 square feet x $5) per year.
The simplified method requires you to measure your office space and include it on Schedule C. It works best for small home offices, while the standard approach is better when your office is bigger than 300 square feet. You can choose the method that gives you the largest tax break for any year.
No matter which method you choose to calculate a home office tax deduction, you can't deduct more than your business's net profit. However, you can carry them forward into future tax years.
Also note that business expenses that are unrelated to your home office—such as marketing, equipment, software, office supplies, and business insurance—are fully deductible no matter where you run your business.
If you have any questions about qualifying business expenses, home office expenses, or taxes, consult with a qualified tax accountant to maximize every possible deduction and save money. The cost of working with a trusted financial advisor or tax pro is worth every penny.
Are you looking for a work from home job or some at home business ideas? If so, then I have a great list of free resources, such as courses and guides, that will help you find the best option and learn how to get started. Plus, all of the courses and guides in this article […]
The post 15 Home Business Ideas & The Free Courses You Need To Get Started appeared first on Making Sense Of Cents.
A will is an important part of your financial plan. When you create a will and testament, youâre creating a legal document that determines how your assets will be distributed once you pass away. You can also use a will … Continue reading →
The post Who Can and Cannot Witness a Will? appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, life and business certainly have changed. If you’re self-employed full-time or earn business income on the side of a day job, you may be wondering what economic relief applies to you.
Let's review what relief Congress passed to help self-employed Americans cope with financial challenges. I’ll review ten key stimulus benefits that apply to solopreneurs and small businesses.
If you're experiencing economic hardship due to the coronavirus, using some of these new regulations may be the ticket to managing your personal and business finances better.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act became law on March 27 as the largest stimulus legislation in American history since the New Deal in the 1930s. Here are ten ways it provides relief for individual solopreneurs and small business owners.
On March 3, the central U.S. bank, also known as the Federal Reserve or Fed, made a surprising emergency interest rate cut of half a percentage point. That’s the largest single rate cut since the financial crisis of 2008. While this move wasn’t part of a coronavirus stimulus package, it was an aggressive cut meant to prepare the economy for problems the pandemic was expected to cause.
An economic recovery could take a few years, which likely means the Fed rate will stay near zero through 2023.
In mid-September, the Fed reiterated its promise to keep interest rates near zero until the economy improves and the unemployment rate declines. They indicated that a recovery could take a few years, which likely means the Fed rate stays near zero through 2023.
While savers never celebrate low interest rates, they're beneficial to borrowers. In general, the financing charge on variable-rate credit cards and lines of credit goes down in lockstep with interest rates. Carrying a balance on your personal and business credit cards may be slightly less expensive, depending on your card issuer and type. For instance, if your card’s annual percentage rate or APR is 20%, your adjusted rate could go down to 19.5%.
If you have a fixed-rate credit card, the APR doesn’t change no matter what happens in the economy or with federal interest rates. Also, note that if you pay off your balance in full each month, a credit card’s APR is irrelevant because you don’t pay interest on purchases.
Earlier this year, the due date for filing and paying 2019 federal taxes was postponed from April 15, 2020, to July 15, 2020. You didn't have to be sick or negatively impacted by COVID-19 to qualify for this federal tax delay. It applied to any person or business entity with taxes due on April 15, 2020.
If you missed the tax filing deadline, be sure to request an extension.
Most businesses make estimated tax payments each quarter. Those payment dates have shifted, too. The 2020 schedule gives you more time as follows:
Individuals and businesses can request an automatic extension to delay filing federal taxes. But it doesn’t give you more time to pay what you owe for 2019, only more time to submit your tax form—until October 15, 2020.
If you missed the tax filing deadline, be sure to request an extension. Individuals must file IRS Form 4868, and most incorporated businesses use IRS Form 7004.
However, depending on where you live, you may have to pay state income taxes, which have not been postponed. If you need a state tax filing extension, check with your state’s tax agency to determine what’s possible.
Taxes due on any date other than April 15, 2020—such as sales tax, payroll tax, or estate tax—don’t qualify for relief.
You typically have until April 15 or the date of a tax extension to make traditional IRA or Roth IRA contributions for the prior year. But since the CARES Act postponed the federal tax filing deadline, you also have until July 15 or October 15, 2020 (if you requested an extension) to make IRA contributions for 2019.
However, this deadline doesn't apply to retirement accounts you may have with an employer, such as a 401(k). Nor does it apply to self-employed accounts, such as a solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA, which correspond to the calendar year.
Like with an IRA, you typically have until April 15 or the date of a tax extension to make HSA contributions for the prior year. Under the CARES Act, you now have until July 15 or October 15, 2020, to make HSA contributions for 2019.
To qualify for an HSA, you must be covered by a qualifying high-deductible health plan. In early March, the IRS issued a notice that a high-deductible health plan may cover COVID-19 testing and treatment and telehealth services before meeting your deductible. And just as before the coronavirus, you can pay for medical testing and treatment using funds in your HSA.
While you typically must pay income tax on retirement account withdrawals that weren’t previously taxed, the good news is that for a period, you can delay or avoid tax altogether. The CARES Act gives you two options for withdrawals made in 2020:
Since withdrawing contributions from a Roth retirement account doesn’t trigger income taxes, it’s a good idea to tap a Roth before a traditional retirement account when you have the option.
Most retirement accounts impose a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you take make withdrawals before age 59.5. Under the CARES Act, if you have a coronavirus-related hardship, the penalty is waived.
Under the CARES Act, if you have a coronavirus-related hardship, the penalty is waived.
For instance, if you, your spouse, or a child gets diagnosed with COVID-19 or have financial challenges due to being laid off, quarantined, or closing a business, you qualify for this penalty exemption. You can withdraw up to $100,000 of your retirement account balance during 2020 without penalty. However, income taxes would still be due in most cases.
The no-penalty rule applies to workplace retirement plans, such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s. It also applies to IRAs, such as traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and SEP-IRAs.
Since you make after-tax contributions to Roth accounts, you can withdraw them at any time (which was also the case before the CARES Act). However, the earnings portion of a Roth is subject to income tax if you withdraw it before age 59.5.
Some workplace retirement plans, such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s, permit loans. Typically, you can borrow 50% of your vested account balance up to $50,000 and repay it with interest over five years.
You can delay the repayment period for a retirement plan loan for up to one year.
For retirement plans that allow loans, the CARES Act doubles the limit to 100% of your vested balance in the plan up to $100,000. It applies to loans you take from your account until late September 2020, for coronavirus-related financial needs.
You can delay the repayment period for a retirement plan loan for up to one year. For example, if you have $20,000 vested in your 401(k), you could take a $20,000 loan on September 30, 2020, and delay the repayment term until September 30, 2021. You’d have payments stretched over five years, ending on September 30, 2026. Any amount not repaid by the deadline would be subject to tax and a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty.
Note that individual retirement accounts—such as traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and SEP-IRAs—don’t allow participants to take loans, only hardship distributions.
Starting on March 13, 2020, most federal student loans went into automatic forbearance until September 30, 2020, due to the CARES Act. On August 8, the suspension of student loan payments was extended through December 31, 2020.
On August 8, the suspension of student loan payments was extended through December 31, 2020.
The suspension covers the following types of loans:
Note that FFEL loans owned by a private lender or Perkins loans held by your education institution don’t qualify for automatic forbearance. However, you may have the option to consolidate them into a Direct Loan, which would be eligible for forbearance. Just make sure that once the suspension ends, your new consolidated interest rate wouldn’t rise significantly.
During forbearance, qualifying loans don’t accrue additional interest. Even if you have federal student loans in default because you haven’t made payments, zero percent interest applies during the suspension period.
Additionally, missed payments during the suspension don’t get reported to the credit bureaus and can’t hurt your credit. Qualifying payments you skip also count toward any federal loan repayment or forgiveness plan you’re enrolled in.
However, if you want to continue making student loan payments during the suspension period, you can. With zero percent interest, the amount you pay gets applied to your principal student loan balance, enabling you to get out of debt faster.
With zero percent interest, the amount you pay gets applied to your principal student loan balance, enabling you to get out of debt faster.
If you’re not sure what type of student loan you have or the pros and cons of consolidation, contact your loan servicer. Even if your student loans are with private lenders or schools, they may offer relief if you request it.
The PPP is part of the CARES Act, and it supports small businesses, organizations, and solopreneurs facing economic hardship created by the pandemic. The program began providing relief in early April 2020, and the application window ended in early August 2020.
Participating PPP lenders coordinated with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to offer loans to businesses in operation by February 15, 2020, with fewer than 500 employees. Loan amounts could be up to 2.5 times the average monthly payroll up to $10 million; however, annual salaries were capped at $100,000.
For a solopreneur, the maximum PPP loan was $20,833 if your 2019 net profit was at least $100,000. The calculation is: $100,000 / 12 months x 2.5 = $20,833.
When you spend at least 60% on payroll and 40% on rent, mortgage interest, and utilities, you can have those amounts forgiven from repayment. Payroll includes payments to yourself, but you can’t cover benefit costs, such as retirement contributions, or payments to independent contractors.
In other words, a solopreneur could have received a PPP loan for up to $20,833, paid the entire amount to themselves, and not repaid it by having the load forgiven. Using a PPP loan for qualifying expenses turns it into a grant.
The best part about PPP loan forgiveness is that it won’t qualify as federal taxable income. Some states that charge income tax have indicated that they won’t tax forgiven amounts.
However, if you have employees, the PPP forgiveness calculations and requirements are more complex. For example, you must maintain reasonable salaries and wages. If you decrease them by more than 25% for any employee (including yourself) who made less than $100,000 in 2019, your forgiveness amount will be reduced.
PPP loan forgiveness also depends on keeping any full-time employees on your payroll. But if you had employees who left your company voluntarily, requested a cut in hours, or got fired for cause during the pandemic, your loan forgiveness amount won’t be reduced for those situations.
The best part about PPP loan forgiveness is that it won’t qualify as federal taxable income. Some states that charge income tax have indicated that they won’t tax forgiven amounts.
However, not all states have issued their rules on taxing PPP forgiveness. So be sure to get guidance if you live in a state with income tax.
You must complete a PPP Loan Forgiveness Application and get approved by your lender to qualify for forgiveness. The paperwork should come from your lender, or you can download it from the SBA website at SBA.gov. Most PPP borrowers have from six months after loan disbursement or until the end of 2020 to spend the funds.
The forgiveness application explains what documents you must include, and they vary depending on whether you have employees. Once you submit your paperwork, your lender has 60 days to decide how much of your PPP loan can be forgiven.
If some or all of a PPP loan isn't forgiven, you typically must repay it within five years at a 1 percent fixed interest rate. You don't have to start making payments for ten months after loan disbursement, but interest will accrue during a deferral period.
In addition to PPP loans, the Small Business Administration (SBA) offers several loans for businesses and solopreneurs facing economic hardship caused by a disaster, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Depending on your state, you may qualify for unemployment assistance, which allows self-employed people, who typically are ineligible for unemployment benefits to get them for a period.
This isn’t a complete list of all the economic relief available for small businesses and solopreneurs. There are federal tax initiatives, funds from local and state governments, and help from private organizations that you may find by doing a search online.
When it comes to surviving uncertainty, such as how COVID-19 will affect the economy, those who have emergency savings will feel much less financial stress than those who don’t. That’s why it’s essential to maintain a cash reserve of at least three to six months’ worth of living expenses in an FDIC-insured bank savings account.
If you don’t need to dip into your emergency fund, continue shoring it up when possible. If you don’t have a cash reserve, accumulate savings by cutting non-essential expenses, and even temporarily pausing contributions to retirement accounts. That’s a better option than succumbing to panic and tapping your retirement funds early.
If you don’t need to dip into your emergency fund, continue shoring it up when possible.
If you find yourself in a cash crunch, contact your creditors before dipping into any retirement accounts you have. Many lenders will be willing to work with you to suspend payments or modify existing loan terms temporarily.
RELATED: How to Reduce Money Anxiety—Compassionate Advice from a Finance Pro
My new book, Money-Smart Solopreneur: A Personal Finance System for Freelancers, Entrepreneurs, and Side-Hustlers, covers many strategies to earn more, manage variable income, and create an automatic money system so you can strengthen your financial future. It’s a great resource if you’re thinking about earning side income or have already started a business.
Many economic factors that affect your personal and business finances aren’t under your control. Instead of worrying, look around, and figure out how you can create more income or cut unnecessary expenses. Working on tasks that you can control gives you more clarity and helps manage stress in uncertain times.
For this podcast about hard money loans I sat down with Kay Battle of Common Sense Capital Solutions. During the podcast we discussed investing in real estate, hard money lending, and how hard money loans can help investors. If you want to learn more about hard money loans and how hard money lenders operate this is a great pdocast for you.
I hope you enjoy the podcast and find it informative. Please consider sharing with those who also may benefit. Listen via YouTube: You can connect with Kay on LinkedIn. You can reach out to Kay for more information on their lending products by emailing her at [email protected] and check out the company website Common Sense Capital Solutions.
You can connect with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
About the author: The above article “Podcast #12: Hard Money Lending” was provided by Luxury Real Estate Specialist Paul Sian. Paul can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 513-560-8002. If you’re thinking of selling or buying your investment or commercial business property I would love to share my marketing knowledge and expertise to help you. Contact me today!
I work in the following Greater Cincinnati, OH and Northern KY areas: Alexandria, Amberly, Amelia, Anderson Township, Cincinnati, Batavia, Blue Ash, Covington, Edgewood, Florence, Fort Mitchell, Fort Thomas, Hebron, Hyde Park, Indian Hill, Kenwood, Madeira, Mariemont, Milford, Montgomery, Mt. Washington, Newport, Newtown, Norwood, Taylor Mill, Terrace Park, Union Township, and Villa Hills.
TRANSCRIPT
Paul: Hello everybody, this is Paul Sian real estate agent with United real estate home connections licensed in the state of Ohio and Kentucky and with me today I have Kay battle, she’s an investor herself and she also works for a hard money lending company and is part owner.
So, we’re going talk about a about her background and hard money lending, so Kay, thank you for being on, how are you today?
Kay: I am doing great, thank you for having me call
Paul: Thank you. So, you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, how did you get started, I guess how did you get started investing first off?
Kay: Yes, I actually mentioned I am a real estate investor, I actually started in 2008 which was right after the market crash and so I we all know there were tons of deeply discounted and foreclosed properties on the market and so I just saw an opportunity to kind of jump in low risk not, much to lose so I tried it and it worked out great and so ever since then I’ve been actively investing
Paul: Very nice, yeah that was a great time to invest, I wish I had, we had actually sold a property at that time that just wasn’t performing well and it was distance-wise us it was too far for me, you tell us how many units do you have currently?
Kay: So currently we have 35 units, they range from single families all the way up to nine units of types of properties total of 35 doors.
Paul: Okay, are they all in these Cincinnati, Cincinnati area?
Kay: Yes, we are all in Cincinnati
Paul: You are still acquiring properties, what are your strategies or goals now?
Kay: Yes, I’m currently acquiring properties and actually have a property under contract at the moment, mostly what I’m focused on now is rehab, so flips just to build up my cash reserve and then I’ll probably purchase something for holding next year.
Paul: Okay and how are you identifying your flips are you finding all in market deals off-market deals?
Kay: Well, so I use on market and wholesalers to look for off-market deals as well, so it’s a combination
Paul: Okay, yeah, this market it’s a lot on market deals are highly competitive don’t make sense
Kay: Yes very, very different from 2008
Paul: Why don’t you tell us about your company the company that you work for that’s a hard money lender what’s the name and how long have you been with them?
Kay: Yes, so as you mentioned I’m part owner of common sense capital solutions, we provide alternative funding for real estate investors and also small businesses and we’ve been in business for about a year and a half, now so I’ll start it at the beginning of 2018 and we just help people find solutions basically
Paul: Okay, so primarily you’re doing mostly hard money loans, you don’t do anything conventional?
Kay: Well, actually we do both, so I couldn’t do anything from you know months all the way up to 30-year times depending on the situation
Paul: The primary focus of this podcast is more than hard money loans not everybody’s familiar with that anybody most people are familiar with a 30-year mortgage 50-year mortgage, so tell us about a hard money loan, I mean what exactly is a hard money loan?
Kay: Yeah, the hard money loans are typically used by real estate investors who either can’t obtain conventional financing or conventional financing doesn’t make sense for the situation, so maybe they have a property that the only one I hold for a short period of time and they don’t want to be tied down to a 15-year or 30-year mortgage that might have a prepayment penalty. So, generally speaking hard many miles are short-term either they are use of bridges and to more permanent onions and or for a situation where you’re only going to hold the property for a short period.
Generally the interest rates are higher because the risk is higher or the property is going to be the loan is only going to be held for a short period of time and also in most situations the loans are interest always so you’re only paying in terms of paying a monthly interest payment, which means the principal balance isn’t decreasing, over time and so as you go to either refinance or sell the property you will still owe the full balance of whatever your loan is.
Paul: Okay, and you mentioned short term what are the I guess what’s the shortest term and we’ll see the longest terms?
Kay: Generally, you know you can go from anywhere three to three months all the way up to three years, so usually beyond three years you won’t likely see a hard money loan
Paul: Okay, presume you take into account the property itself, it’s floors can you tell us a little bit about that?
Kay: Yeah, so in general terms hard money loans are what is goods that are in accident they flown so a lot of emphasis is put on the property in the deal itself, however a lot of lenders are still going to want to get a little bit of information about the farmer so usually the credit requirements are fairly low but credit will be still taking into consideration also the person’s experience, so it can have you know a hit to your credit score heart many wells are definitely an option because there is still a lot of emphasis on the packet in the deal itself, so as long as the numbers make sense and they deal usually something can be worked out
Paul: Okay, what kind of down payment are you looking for most properties?
Kay: Down payment can range anywhere from ten to twenty-five percent, depending on the type of property in a situation, there are certain situations where a down payment may not be required, I have seen those situations as well but it’s kind of rare so it leaves plant for its investment
Paul: Somebody were to apply with your company how fast does it take you do a similar process like a pre-approval so how long would that take?
Kay: Yes, in most situations we won’t need to do like a pre-approval we’ll just go straight into underwriting, so simple for Hard money loans it doesn’t take very long to actually close, I mean it’s run situations we can close in a few days and it can go two or three weeks
Paul: Okay, so in terms of pre-approval, you’re still like we’re looking at credit somebody needs to you know they need a letter of intent from you or so that’s they could get that?
Kay: Yes, so usually we can do that whole process in a few days
Paul: Okay, all right you mentioned the example of you know having a zero down payment loan that’s pretty interesting, can you elaborate on that, what sort of examples have you seen of that?
Kay: Yeah, generally I’ve seen those and the loan amount is fairly high, so we’re looking at plus a million but usually in those situations we’re taking into account what the after repair value is going to be, so if someone is doing a large rehab project or have a construction project where they’re adding a great level of value and equity into a situation, in those types of conditions the down payment you require because we’re going to take actually count the equity that is being filled into the deal
Paul: So, that’s even equity that the person let’s say they are they’re doing sweat equity or they’ve got contractors who are going to that’s even that equity to you’re not considering already existing equity where it’s a great deal already it’s you know 50% LTV loan the value and then you also look at what they’re putting into the into the deal
Kay: Exactly
Paul: Okay
Kay: Yeah, so that’s a great example so if someone has seen after repair value that’s going to be four million and they want to land fifty percent loan to value can be two million and so that’s kind of how we look at the situation
Paul: Okay, you’re also taking a primary lien position?
Kay: Correct. Yes
Paul: Okay and you mentioned we talking about two million four million or do you have any upper limits, minimum loan amounts, upper low amount?
Kay: Usually, for residential properties we’re looking at a 50k minimum, for commercial we’re looking at 100K minimum, and really the upper limit is pretty high looking at the several millions of dollars
Paul: Okay and then we you know it’s a good segue into the you’re talking about commercial residential and the in a conventional space, I mean you’ve got your commercial loans they’re quite different than your residential loans so than residential two to four units, you know do you have that distinction or it’s the same type of loan product upfront applies regardless of commercial and residential?
Kay: Generally speaking all of the month that you are still considered commercial even if you’re doing you know working with residential properties because we require that they are in an entity, and so they’re going to be loan in a business, the terms and everything are going to be very similar, the only difference is that because many I’m wrong about
Paul: Okay so you mentioned in an entity you mean like an LLC S corporations in a corporation, so that’s even another helpful thing for investors to I mean a lot of with your conventional loans, generally the conventional lenders don’t want LLC, they want you to individually on the deed but this case that’s an extra advantage for that.
Kay: Yes, exactly.
Paul: You had mentioned repayment terms we talked about interest only, I guess it’s optional on the buyer to they want to pay more if they want to pay down the principal as well, I mean are you able to you calculate that upfront or you just as they you know they get to do that however they want to do that?
Kay: It’s a case-by-case situation, we can’t look into that if there someone is interested in doing that generally most people like the interest-only payments because it helps keep the payment low while you’re in this transition phase and so you’re not having to pay additional money if you’re plenty the cells of property or if you’re playing so you’re in finance it into something that’s more than conventional most investors like to keep they’re paying it as well as possible during that time period
Paul: Okay let’s say someone does start off with the intent of you know I’m looking alone when I’m looking for a fix and flip, but then they look at the property later and you know based on the value add and they think they can get better rents are you able to refinance them into a conventional loan that you no longer term 15-year, 20-year or 30-year or how does that work with your company?
Kay: Yeah definitely, so we can do finances, we can even cash out refinance and so if someone has built equity into the property and they were planning on selling it but then they change their strategy and once they hold it, we can refinance it and let them cash that equity out and then we of course maybe purchases as well.
Paul: So, the cashing out those include 20-year loan, 30-year loan?
Kay: Yes, even up to 30-years, yes.
Paul: Okay, do you hold all the loans on your books or do you already also broker some of these loans?
Kay: So, most of your loans are going to be held by the actual lender so we broker those out an they work with the paper
Paul: How many lenders do you work with private lenders?
Kay: So, we do real estate loans and also small business loan, so total we have about 15-lender that we work with on a real estate track, I would say it’s about 15/20
Paul: Okay, very nice you mentioned small business loans here to share some information about that?
Kay: Yes, on a small business side we have a wide range of moms as well, we can do asset based loans where a company can use their invoices as collateral also inventory and equipment we can do equipment finance, we have some unsecured lines of credit for businesses and a few other things with over some general loan that we are offering.
Paul: So, talking about the loans, you mentioned interest rates are higher earlier in terms of your short term your hard money loans welcoming interest rates are we looking at there?
Kay: Generally speaking, they start in the high single digits so maybe seven and eight percent and it can go well into the teens, so twelve fourteen percent
Paul: What’s the reason for you know a low interest rate and the high interest rate, is there you know it’s based on the properties are based on the borrower?
Kay: Yeah, generally speaking it’s going to be based on leverage, so long to value also borrower experience plays a role and sometimes FICO score, not all, not in all situations but those are the key elements of determining what that interest rate is going to be.
Paul: So, you can get a loan to like it you know if I wanted to go I found a property that’s an ideal fixing flip and I can get the money to buy the property, are you also lending so I can you know pay contractors hire contractors to do repairs and if so then how is that done, how does that handle over time, do you think about all that money up front, do you draws?
Kay: Yeah, so we can find the purchase and the rehab in that situation and generally we go up to ninety percent, so we’ll do ninety percent of the total project cost which is the purchase list or we have. The purchase clients are dispersed for the seller at closing and then whatever you have to set aside for your construction or rehab will go into an escrow account and you work on a draw system, so as the worth of being included you can request a draw and get that money for that particular piece of the work
Paul: Okay, for each draw you acquiring invoices, are you requiring some sort of milestones or just?
Kay: No invoices, we just we have an inspector come out just to make sure the work is completed and don’t require that in the use you know specific contract, there’s anything like that you can do it work yourself you just want to know that the work has actually been completed and then you can have the draw
Paul: Great when it comes to the actual loan approval process, you mentioned underwriting before is there a committee, are you part of that committee or how does that work in your company?
Kay: No, I’m not part of the committee I do like a pre-assessment, so I’ll collect all of the documentation and kind of look over the deal, make sure that numbers and everything makes sense and then I submit it to the underwriting team and they actually do a full assessment, so they’ll pull the credit they’ll run the numbers and make sure that everything’s okay. In most situations we do require an appraisal so that will be ordered and generally I was saying it usually takes a couple to close everything
Paul: Okay, you mentioned appraisals and who pays for the appraisals and I guess out of their other upfront costs that the buyers should need to expect?
Kay: So, the only upfront cost generally is the appraisal and the flyer is responsible for that in most situations, there are some situations where the lender will pay for the appraisal so that’s the only thing that would need to be paid paint privates are closing. At closing for hard money loans usually they’re going to have to pay fees which are loan origination fees a point for the hard money loan, I mean those can rent anywhere from one to, I have seen it at five. So…
Paul: Five points?
Kay: Yeah, it a percentage point of whatever the loan amount is.
Paul: Okay, and the reason for the variance and the loan points do that based on risk as well too?
Kay: Well, it’s based on race it’s also based on lender and situation depending on the long sides major advantage, you are at a lower loan amount, your points are likely going to be higher versus this to add you know a million plus or like your higher loan I’m not you okay a lower percentage point but of course if you’ve going to be higher in general because the loan amount is higher.
Paul: Okay, you handle all your loans and closings or deal with the title company?
Kay: We allow the borrower to choose their title company, so they can choose whatever they want to work with
Paul: Do you service all 50-states as their in limits where you do not service?
Kay: Yes, so in most we can definitely learn in most states, there are certain situations that are a little bit more difficult one of those on the top of the head is like North Dakota, so some you know random states you have some restrictions and for the most part you can you can live in any of the states
Paul: Okay great, and how can buyers get in touch with you if they will be interested in chatting with you and finding out more about your loan products and company?
Kay: Yeah, so you can reach me at [email protected] you can visit the website which is www.cscapitalsolutions.com
Paul: Great and if you are listening to this podcaston my website, i’ll definitely provide your contact information there and leave a couple of your social media profiles too.
Again, thank you for being on our podcast and enjoy the rest to day.
Kay: Yea, thanks for having me
Paul: Thank you
Kay: Awesome
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