All Forum Posts by: Zulf H.

Dear BP members. I have several properties and I have been using Excel to keep a track of all my rents, expenses etc. I have been using it to for 8 years now and it has been working great but as I grow I am looking for something that gives a dashboard so that I can have a high level view of all my properties, expenses, loans etc.

Can you recommend any online FREE software that you havebeen using which you would like to recommend. It would be great if there is an easier way to transfer my data from excel into this app as I have several units and I don’t want to do it manually. Also if there is a mobile app for it. Appreciate your advice.

@Jason Bott - Thanks for the tip. I will reach out to them. 

Hello:

I am considering venturing into starting a business that provides property insurance and other types of insurance related to real-estate. Any ideas on how easy or difficult this is? Is this a saturated area or are there opportunities? is the initial investment a lot?

Also how would I go about doing this. I am assuming I would have to get a franchisee license from Allstate or StateFarm. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

Hi BP members:

I wanted to get some feedback and advice on strategy to grow my real estate business. I got into RE investing about 8 years ago and have invested mainly in SFH and Multi Units. I own 30 units and I personally feel like I want to stop acquiring more properties and grow in other aspects of Real Estate. ( For example Prop Mgmt or providing insurance). I will be looking into the opportunity with a partner who has several years of experience in RE and good amount of client network.

What are some other services in Real Estate that I could offer that are profitable. I am looking at a long term sustainable business model. It would be great to also know what areas/service in RE I should steer away from that will be challenging.  I do plan on having a proper office and hire a few employees (3-5).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello:

I am interested in getting the room sizes for a property I am considering to purchase. The realtor says the seller does not have this information. Is there a website where this information can be gathering from previous records. I am out of town and want to get an idea of the room sizes before investing in this bldg. Thanks for the help!

Hi, I am in the process of forming an agreement with one landscaper to manage 5 of my properties. I was wondering what terms do you put in the agreement. 

Below are a few I thought of:

1) Weekly service for landscaping and cleaning around the building

2) Identify a specific day in the week he will visit the properties. 

3) looking for other input....

My main concern is I want to make sure they visit the properties regularly and do the job they are paid for. I travel for business so I cannot be there to see if the job is being done on a weekly basis. 

Any advice would be helpful. 

Thanks!

Hi BP members;

One of the buildings I had purchased, had an issue with bed bugs once that tenant left. I used a pesticide company and they treated the apartment and also went to the other apartments in the bldgand verified there were no traces of the bed bugs. I also had them do a pesticide control for all the apartments. I have heard from a tenant who thought they had bed bugs but after the pesticide did their test there were no bedbugs. Most recently i had another tenant next door complaint about this. 

This is a nightmare because  each time they visit its a bill. He tells me I need to have the come out each month. I have an 8 unit bldg. Are other members doing a similar practice with pest control. Can you provide me a referral for a Chicago based pest control who deals with bed bugs 

thx

@Kurt Bender - Thanks Kurt. This is probably what I need to do, however I do travel quite a bit for work therefore I it has been a bit challenging, but I need to attend REIA. Wonder if there is one in Chicago for the month of July?

@Ben Wilkins - Thanks Ben, some really god tips . I like the idea of loop net, I will look into it.

@Andrew Johnson - I like the idea about reaching out to property managers and seeing if hey have any leads or if their current customers are looking to sell. Thanks for the tip!

@Crystal Smith - Thanks for the tips. I think these are good. Since I am investor I rely on my broker, but I would like to be aware of more deals and network with others so I can also be aware of great opportunities or deals. I will look into CIC, sounds interesting. 

Hi. I have been using since Excel since I got the first property. I have added several more properties but excel seems to be good, easy to use if you spend the time setting up your table and updating it regularly. I usually right click on a cell and insert comments when I wan to add more detail about an expense. Also I am using it for my multi units . In my opinion its easy to use , free of you have ms office and cAn be scaled as your portfolio increases.