All Forum Posts by: Alan G.

@Toby Gingold

Toby, not sure what your long term goals are but if you continue to purchase more properties can you image having that many checking accounts ? Totally unnecessary. You do however need to be able to separate income and expenses for each property. I use Quickbooks to do that. I would recommend 1 account for your security deposits and 1 checking account with the right software to track everything. I currently have over 50 properties with 5 renovations going on at the same time and I have no problem tracking every penny of 6 different LLCs.

Feel free to contact me directly for additional info.

Ken,

Look at the value of the assets in each LLC and not the number of properties. I generally put about $1,000,000 into each LLC. That may be 1 property or it may be 10 homes worth $100,000 each. This may change depending on what your comfortable with. Hope this helps.

Alan

Rob, I always, always take care of transferring security deposits at closings. If a security deposit was given when the lease was originally signed then you must get it and transfer it to your own escrow account. As you can see, once settlement is done it’s very unlikely you will get that money but you WILL be responsible for it when the tenant moves out.

I stand corrected after reading section, thanks.

Kevin, First off, in Pennsylvania what you pay for a property has nothing to do with the assessed value. You have to look at the assessed value x the common ratio to get the actual value, or what the county thinks it’s worth for tax purposes. Then decide whether it is accurate or not. If not, then go ahead and file an appeal. Keep in mind you will have to prove your case. The best way using comps and an appraisal.

Michael, I have been using desktop version of Quickbooks for Mac for 5 years and love it. We run multiple LLCS which is no problem and no additional charge. I would not use online version for that specific reason. There are numerous videos on YouTube if you get stuck. Also, there is a woman named Nancy Neville on BP that is an expert in Quickbooks that always has insightful answers. You may want to track her down for specific answers.

Aman, “Darby Borough” is actually to vague a term. There are areas there that I def will not invest in. You have to break it down further. I have many, many properties in a section near the hospital and have great, hardworking tenants. Many are section 8 but I screen like crazy. Yes, you will have drama and issues but I can tell you that my returns are through the roof. As far a Sharon Hill and Collingdale, love both areas also. Again, it’s a bit rough but if you know how to deal with the local authorities as well as the tenants you can do very well. This is NOT a hands off investing area though and requires oversight and management to make things work.

Nicholas, Every county is different. In my area, there is a formula based on the assessed value. Almost all of the properties I purchase has the assessed values set years ago when the market was through the roof. In our area we have to file appeals by July 30th. Before doing this though , we have to make sure that we understand the market value. We may want the taxes to go down but if you don’t do your homework, taxes can actually be raised during the appeals process. We have appealed approx 12 to 15 per year as we win almost every time. Again, it’s because I know what the value should be and we go on prepared.

Paul, We use payyourrent.com. The beauty about this service is that you have a choice as to wether you collect a portion of the rent or all of it at once. Also, you can just remove tenant in question from the system if you don’t want to collect anything. Alan

Jacob, The ownership of the property has nothing to do with the lease. I own properties under several LLCs but all of my leases are written under my management LLC. I would never put my own name on the lease since I have no desire for my tenants to know who I am.