All Forum Posts by: Allen Tracy

Does anyone have a tax person they'd recommend? I live in California and have properties in Columbus, OH.  I'm open to CPAs all over the states but I've heard it might be better to get someone in California because of our specialized tax laws.  I've used the same tax guy for over 20 years only because he does the taxes for my parents and their business. He's a few hours away from me so I'm used to working remotely with a CPA. He doesn't give me the attention I require and sometimes doesn't even return my e-mails. I'm ready to move on and find someone who can help me grow my RE portfolio.

Great question, I'm in the same boat.  I'd also like to get more familiar with B class neighborhoods.

Also make sure your general inspector inspects the whole property and not just the main building.  I've had an inspector miss checking the backyard fence on two properties.  $4,000 to fix and I got nothing from the seller because I didn't know about it until after I purchased the property.

I normally just do a general inspection.  The inspector usually points out if there is termite damage or not.  If there are large trees in the yard I may scope the sewer.

Thanks, I always check with my property manager once I'm close to making an offer but I analyze around 3-4 properties a week and probably 100s of properties before I actually make an offer on one so I don't want to bug them that often.

I'm looking for ways to analyze a property in under a minute just to see if I want to dive deeper into it or pass.  I wanted to see if anyone else was seeing rents closer to the 25th percentile number on rentometer or if it's just me.

I'll have to start using Zillow a bit more.  After I get really serious and want to make an offer I contact my PM for more accurate numbers but for general analyzing I'd love to at least be close without having to contact my PM.  For a single family it's not as big of a deal to be off by $100-$200/mo but once you start looking at multi family it can really drop your returns if a 4-6 unit is off by $150/mo per unit.  

I think what I'll start doing is running the numbers at the 25th percentile in rentometer since that's what the current properties I own are renting for and many of the properties I'm seeing listed are currently renting for.  Then if those numbers work I'll start diving deeper into Zillow comps, if those numbers work I'll contact my PM, if those work I'll make an offer.

Has anyone else seen that rents in Columbus are mostly around the 25th percentile number on Rentometer.com (if not slightly lower)?  I even played with the settings and changing it to 6 months at 0.5 miles and 3 months 0.2 miles.  It's the same with GoSection8 rental estimates.  For two of my tenants Section8 gave a value of lower than the 25th percentile on Rentometer and even slightly lower than GoSection8.com.

Whenever I run the numbers now on a potential property I use the 25th percentile number on Rentometer just in case.  Not sure if anyone else is seeing the same thing.

Thanks @Daniel Smyth, good advice about being hands on.  Unfortunately I'm out of state so no sit downs or walk throughs with anyone.  Phone calls, video chats, and e-mails will have to suffice but I can translate most of what you recommended into working remotely.  The main purpose of this post was to virtually chat with owners about Columbus specific numbers so when I eventually speak with a contractor I have a better idea on if they're in the ball park, way too high, or way too low.

@Jad Boudiab Donny is awesome.  I can see ERA not wanting to deal with all of the payments coming to them, it's just super inconvenient for me.  If I eventually have a ton of properties with lots of section8 tenants it'll create a lot of paperwork and tracking of funds on my end.  It's the whole reason I was excited to have a property manager, I don't have the time to track all of that.  Since they use AppFolio it's easy to click a button and generate reports for each property.  If I ever want to sell a property I'll have to generate a report form them, then modify it and enter my numbers, then I can turn it over to a potential buyer.  

I'll ask if they can make an exception but like you mentioned, they have so many clients and properties they're managing that they can call the shots.

Thanks @Sean Dawson, I felt the same way about being nervous about section8 tenants but they recommended it and I figured they’re the pros so I should listen to them. So far my two section8 tenants have been better than my two non section8 tenants.