All Forum Posts by: Andrew Glavinic

@Caroline Gerardo

Hello, additional details: Your right it would be a pain to take them down and it wouldn't make sense that they would do it. One of the advertisement companies I talked to made it sound like they might though.

Access for anyone would be a problem because it's behind two locked doors.

The company that owns the lease is Clear Channels Outdoors.

The property owners who signed the lease both passed away 10+ years ago.

The lease is written in such a way that Clear Channel is the owner of the billboard and that the lease is assigned to anyone who acquires the building. It also appears to be a perpetual lease, as it automatically renews unless terminated with a 60 day notice.

So I have decided to stick with Quickbooks and Google apps to run the business for at least another year. I was leaning heavily towards AppFolio after all was said and done. It just does everything and more for not that much more money than Buildium and other competitors. It's set up for commercial use as well, which I need. Had a few meetings with a representative and everything, which went great. I decided it was going to take more time to set up, learn, and run than I had imagined (Grass is always greener syndrome). 

I have a pretty effective system that I wish could be more efficient. It is basically all on the cloud (Yay for remote access to run Quickbooks desktop) and could be sourced out to virtual assistants pretty soon. This coming year's goal is going completely paperless by using Google Drive to scan and file all receipts. Instead of filing them when I get back to the office in the real filing cabinets (Probably going to still file the paper to make sure there are no catastrophes the first year). To collect rent, I use Zelle (free to use) and now Quickbooks Desktop payments ($3 a transaction) for those who cant use Zelle. I have a master "Rent Paid Checklist" for every month on Google sheets and Rent Rolls, a master Lease Anniversary List, and a monthly to-do list to make sure I don't forget to pay the mortgagees and such alongside a month-specific to-do list I add on to not forget to pay taxes or that Suite 205 said they are moving out at the end of the month. The drawbacks are double or triple data entry at times. Like when inputting lease amendment/rent increase, I need to change the item list amount in QB, then memorize the transaction for the following months in QB, then change the excel rent roll, then change the excel lease anniversary list, and finally put a reminder in my calendar a month and some change before the Lease Expires. The advantage is, it's not thousands of dollars a year and I could email my VA pretty soon to do those annoying repetitive tasks I don't like. This is also built exactly how I need it and really has cut down errors.

Woah apparently I really needed to write out my process to people who might understand lol. Sorry for bringing you on this journey haha.

Hello everyone,

I have a pretty darn specific question about Billboards. I will set up my problem, tell you a few things I am going to try, and ask if anyone has had experience with this or has any other ideas. 

So I manage a commercial property in Long Beach, CA and there is an outdated lease for the billboards on the roof. The monthly income is $55 a month (Not worthless but close to it considering the building would look nicer without them) and the lease was created in 1979. The signaled intersection gets around 38,000 VPD according to LoopNet which the billboards advertise to. I have done a decent amount of research and know that I can get a better deal than this at this location. I can terminate the lease at any time with a 60-day notice. The problem is section 13 of the lease which basically says that the Billboard company owns the billboard and can tear it down at any point during the lease or after the termination of the lease. 

I've spoken to other Billboard companies and they basically don't want to deal with it at all because of this and because Long Beach is extremely strict with billboards (The city is, understandably, trying to make the city look nice). The billboard is considered non-conforming use and is Grandfathered in. All you can do is repair the existing billboard (even if an earthquake knocks it down you are not allowed to put it back, Welcome to CA lol).

The reason this adverse clause for the owners of the building is in there is to protect the Billboard company from losing their investment to another company after a couple of years. This is totally reasonable and I understand that it is there to do this. My job is to run this property the best I can for the owners and they have had this deal for 42 years so I wouldn't lose sleep over getting a new deal.

My only ideas, as of now, are first, to send this over to the lawyer to make sure there is no easy way out of this agreement, which I doubt but it's worth a shot. Then second, renegotiate a lease with the current Billboard company that transfers ownership of the Billboard to the owners of the Building. (The Billboard company reached out to the previous manager to sign a new lease a few times but the previous manager didn't have the time to get it done.) With the goal of getting market rents whenever this new lease agreement ends. 

 See Pictures of Billboard and Building

Any advice, people I should reach out to, or other ideas are much appreciated.

Thank you in advance, you are all great!!! 

@Tracy Streich Okay, thank you for your advice. I didn't think of them like that, more as a new platform but you definitely could be right considering the lack of resources on them. Do you use PM software for your business?

Hey there! I manage about 100 units, a mix of Commercial, Multi-Family, Single Family, and Warehouse. I currently use Quickbooks, a few Excel Sheets, and Google Calendars for everything. I'm looking to use property management software for accounting and all the other features PM Software comes with. I can find a lot of info on here and elsewhere about the ones that I am most interested in. All except DoorLoop. If anyone has any experience with DoorLoop and is willing to share, that would be much appreciated! 

It's really between Buildium and DoorLoop for me. Why I hesitate to run with Buildium is because it is made with Residential in mind while DoorLoop is made with both in mind. I used Buildium to set up one of the commercial buildings and it did work but if I'm going to be paying $100s a month on something, I want to make sure it is the best option for me. Thanks again!!!!

Hey everyone,

I am Real Estate Agent in the Inland Empire in California, specifically Riverside. I want to become the best investor-friendly agent there is. If anyone has any tips or tricks please let me know. Does anyone have great experiences they can share or awful ones? 

Thank you all in advance!

P.S. I am already well versed in all of the Bigger Pockets education materials such as blog posts, books, and podcasts.

Hey Natelya,

https://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/online-property-management-software-cloud/

This is a list of Bigger Pockets online property management software that they have had recommended to them. It really depends on your needs as to what software you go with if you even need it at all. I work in managing commercial property as well as some residential. My boss runs his own portfolio and I am slowly bringing it out of the paper and unorganized ways. The book "The Book On Managing Rental Properties" by Brandon and Heather Turner really has helped me with updating his systems significantly.

Some quick suggestions PayNearME is good for people who primarily want to pay with cash or don't have bank accounts set up. Then something as simple as Venmo which doesn't charge when sending money with your debit card or if they already have a balance. These coupled with google docs, a great system in place, and accounting software may be all you need.

Let me know what you end up doing and how it works out for you!

Does the Bigger Pockets Landlord Forms include residential and commercial forms (such as retail or industrial)? 

@James Hong Off the 91 on Magnolia is a University called California baptist university. Its non-online size is right around 10,000. Upper classmen got the following email:

"Dear Andrew,

As a result of a projected increase in the demand for on-campus housing during the upcoming academic year, seniors (students who have completed 90 or more units) may reside off campus during the fall 2019 and spring 2020 semesters, regardless of the amount of institutional financial aid that has been awarded.

If it is your desire to live off campus during the 2019-2020 academic year, please notify the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services (email:calbaptist.edu, phone: #) of your intent to do so. If you plan to live on campus next year, you must complete the Returning Student Room Selection Process, which will take place during March 2019. Information regarding the Selection Process will be emailed to you during February 2019.

Please note that student athletes who desire to live off campus must contact Joey Logan, Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations (email:calbaptist.edu, phone: #), prior to making any housing arrangements.

Sincerely,

Daron Hubbert"

I am about to graduate from CBU and know other private schools fairly well. Typically, at most schools with limited housing, seniors get kicked off campus. If CBU grows the way it has been the past 6 years. There could be consitent growth of 2000 people oer year searching for housing in this area of Riverside. I would check to see if CBU plans to build more housing for its students also. I hope this helps! Also, my plan is to do the same thing as you by the end of next year.

Ps, BP made me redact phone numbers and emails within the email.

Director of Residence Life and Housing Services