New Member from Northern California

[Kurt Z.]

Hi everyone.  I have been lurking around the forums for several weeks and I really appreciate all the time and effort people put into this site.  It is an amazing community.  A little bit about me.

I actually work professionally in the multifamily investment space for a larger institutional company that focuses on buying larger (200+ units) value-add apartment deals.  I am now looking to buy a few smaller income properties in and around Northern California.  

I have an apartment property in escrow currently (more details to follow). It has been an interesting learning process. Despite doing this for my day job for 10+ years, it is different when you are doing it for yourself. For example, I am very fluent in the analytics of evaluating an investment opportunity, the financing options, etc,.... but I have no idea how to form an LLC (attorneys typically do it) or how to draft a lease or how to collect rent (we use 3rd party property management that handles). This site has been helpful with learning some of these basics. So, I actually think this new side investment will improve my skillset for my day job as well.

A few notes on my plans for take-over of the property:

- I plan to use Cozy.co based on research, reviews online and here for tenant screening and rent collection

- I plan to use RocketLawyer for legal docs, leases and for on-line signatures

- All tenants are on month to month leases so i will likely as people to sign longer term leases or pay a premium for right to be MTM

- I will likely just use Excel for accounting purposes and Income/expense tracking

- I set up a Gmail email address & a google voice number.  What is the best service to allow call forwarding and text forwarding to my cell phone without having to post my cell in ads, etc?

- I plan to install some digial locks to allow remote access to vendors.  Still researching this

I welcome any and all thoughts, comments and questions.

K

[Scott ONeill]

Hey Kurt Z.! I am a small apartment building broker in the LA area. I typically deal with almost all mom and pop investors and a few syndicators. Not sure how many units the building you are buying is or what area. 

I would definitely check the Apartment Owner's Association (AOA) though. Many of the members are attorney's, CPA's, roofers, plumbers, etc. It's almost like it's own little self sustaining community. Along with your membership you have access to legal docs such as leases that are very strong and favor the owner that have been written by attorney members. 

As far as collecting rent I would do it myself if it is a decent area have ok tenants and feel comfortable doing so. Another good idea is to set up a PO Box for them to mail to and I would use that as my mailing address. Make sure to use that on escrow paperwork as well this way you don't have any angry or unhappy tenants showing up at your home. 

If it's a smaller building I think Excel is fine for accounting. I have had a lot of clients use appfolio property management software with good reviews if you wanted to go that route. 

I can't speak to the other issues as much but hopefully this helps and good luck with your building!