Ask an Accountant Q&A

So this is what I’ve been dealing with lately. During the busiet time of year for me. From top to bottom is my daughters room, Living room and finally what’s left of my kitchen. We had just remodeled this entire home in Sept 2014. Everything on the inside was brand new, it was a complete gut job renovation. So sad to see it now, after all the work we put into it.

 

dang man, sorry to hear

 

@Sub_Par any ideas as to what caused it?

 

Right now the investigators for the county just left it as undetermined. They said it burned so hot and there’s so much damage it’s too hard to tell what happened. They do know it most likely started in the garage but that’s all they could say. Allstate’s investigator will be out tomorrow to see what they can find out.

 

Thank you.

 

This is no rush since I'm sure that you're still in a crazy time trying to figure things out on the home. I'm looking at possibly starting my own business/company since stuff I've been selling is making me more than the $600 allowed for hobby income. I've been thinking of doing a single member LLC and just wonder what I'm getting myself into?

I'm sorry for the house, I wish there was something more I could do/offer other than my thoughts

 

Just talked to someone about refinancing my home. Currently have 19 plus years left at 5.35%, new will be 20 years at 4.5 fixed.

Questions- my truck loan is at 1.9% with about 18.5k left, does it make sense to roll that into the new mortgage?
The guy is also telling me that the new tax laws are better for home mortgage interest and that's why I should roll in the truck loan. I have a couple credit cards that make sense to toss in, well maybe they do.

Thoughts?

 

Sorry guys, I have been swamped with dealing with Insurance and the last push till the end of Tax Season. @micwillia PM and we can discuss anything you need to. @Spare Parts I personally would never roll a depreciable asset (vehicle) into a mortgage especially one for 20 yrs when your interest rate is already lower than the mortgage. The tax laws for a regular mortgage really haven't changed, in fact they've actually lowered the amount your mortgage can be worth to use the interest (750k down from 1M). You also need to look at whether you will even itemize in 2018, will your Itemized deductions be more than 24,000.00? This would include Mortgage Interest, Property Taxes, Out of pocket medical above 10% of your income, Donations, and Gambling losses that are offsetting winnings. If you will not itemize then paying more interest on your loan is doing nothing for your tax return. Credit cards are a little different as the interest rate is much higher; however, if your increasing your loan you will be paying a lower rate but for a longer period before you start to pay more principal than interest. If your really looking to get rid of the debt it may be worth it to you add it into the loan if that is an option for you. I would make sure you will not be upside on the mortgage by adding additional debt to it, make sure the house would be worth the amount of the loan.

 

@Sub_Par hows everything going brother?

 

Doing ok, we just got the keys to a rental house that we will be in for the near future. We are having some issues with Insurance and also the Fire Adjuster we hired to help with the claim. We will feel better getting out of my parents house and having our own space again, even if it is much smaller than what we had. My daughter has been great through all of this and luckily at 22mos she really doesn't understand whats happening. We had some amazing news though out of all this crap, my wife is pregnant and will be due in November. So now the push comes to try to get back into something permanent before then, but I'm not holding my breath. Unfortunately I think this is gonna drag on for months before we can even think about rebuilding or buying another house.