All Forum Posts by: Alex S.

Thanks for the references to Zillow and Appartmenets.com, I'll check out these two as well. I do agree that the proper tool should be used for a proper task. And in my case (with the only property to manage) I believe most of the "best software" will be overkill. 

You tried Buildium, propertyware, appfolio (I see all of them on the Investopedia radar)  what didn't you like about each of them and why you eventually stopped on AppFolio?

Automation means avoiding manual actions where is possible. E.g. application collection and background check execution, instead of printing the application, collect the paper, fee, running a background check I was to have a system does that for me, and from my side, I want only to get a list of prospective tenants with background check report attached and with the only action expected from me - pick a tenant and proceed to a lease agreement.

thanks for the recommendation, I'll add that on my list to check.

> $4.00 Per active lease / month*

That is a good deal, I guess. Does it help with all the steps in the leasing or only collecting payments for active leases? 

Property management companies are fine, but I just got my first real estate investment property and want to go over all stages of management myself before letting someone else to manage my property. I have also read in a few real estate investors books that property management companies are doing a lousy job and not really motivated to find the best tenants and maintain your property in the best shape.

For my first property I want to do and understand every step of the whole rental property lifecycle and looking for tools which can help me doing that:

- Vacancy ads

- Collect perspective tenants info for future verification

- Schedule property showings

- Background checks

- Lease agreements (online review and signature) and other docs

- Collect payments, late payment fees, payment notifications

- Collect and return deposits

- Repair request

- Repair services lookup and schedule (match with local providers and ability to request them)

I’m looking for an automated online system to help me with every step in this journey and most probably I missed some important steps. I found quite a few but not sure which suits my case the best for a single property (quote from investopedia)

Best Overall: Buildium

Best Free Option: TurboTenant

Best for Advanced Features: AppFolio

Best for Single Family Homes: Propertyware

Best for Few Properties: SimplifyEm

Best for Commercial Property: MRI Software

Best Cloud-Based Software: Yardi Breeze

I also discovered Hemlane (advertised to me), not mentioned on the investment portals but looks suitable and complete against my list of needs.

What kind of automation tools do you use to manage your rental properties without property management companies? Any reccommendation for me to start with a single rental property?

A few miles, it will be hard to pass that test, and I don't want to lie, if it's not qualified then it's not, I just want to see what is the best strategy. I think if I intend to use it as an investment property, it should be an investment mortgage. If something changes later, I'll do a refinance as a second home mortgage (if that is possible).

THanks! It does help, great advices

I had that idea about moving into that new property but that is not something I want to do, at least not just to get the lower rates. Thanks for the suggestion on the cashout refinance. I think if I'm not planning to move in there right away I have to accept investment property rates.

I see a big difference in the mortgage rate in my state for Second home (3.25%) vs Investment property (4.25%) loan products. While I own a primary residence, I want to purchase another downtown condo (not that far from my primary residency) and most likely rent it out until the pandemic is over (at least) and use it myself for close-to-office needs + rent when not in use. Will this kind of property qualify for a Second home loan product? Or I should get it as an Investment property loan product and then refinance when applicable. 

Looking for your experience and advice here. Thanks!

Cashflow works for one condo I'm looking into buying, but only because the price dropped 20% (like on most of the condos in my city). HOA rules allow rentals right away (at least not denying it). They do have a rental cap that is not met, and they do not allow short-term rentals (which is fine).

I've been tracking house prices during the pandemic and they grew a lot for single-family residence houses while city condos lost around 20% and stay on market 30+ days. It's probably will be harder to rent it out now.

Is it a good time to invest in a condo? Thoughts?