All Forum Posts by: Bill B.

NICE! Maybe you can find someone local that would work 4-5 hours one day a week? That way you get more frequent updates. (I assume you won’t find a 1 hour a day type person. Unless they can find 6 or 7 other customers who need the same.) maybe they could do that remotely. Does your CPA have anyone they can suggest? That’s how I found a bookkeeper that came in at month’s end for a few hours when I owned some computer stores. 

Can I ask how many properties you have and how long it’s taking you? If you have 100+ or maybe even 50+ I could see how it would help. But it literally takes 5 minutes per month per property with something as simple as quicken. 

10 properties don’t take me an hour a month. I guess if you could find a virtual bookkeeper willing to do the work for $50/month you could hire them. But personally I think seeing the numbers makes you know the numbers much more than a report. Heck you could either end up a month behind at seeing a problem if you only look at monthly reports. Or you could end up spending more time than just doing the work yourself. 

Again if you have a large portfolio ignore this comment. But finding a virtual employee who you know knows what they’re doing, won’t “half-*** it”  and yet won’t run off with your money might be harder than it sounds. Companies that hire in-house bookkeepers are victims of fraud more times than you can count. This can’t have a lower rate of theft/fraud. Good luck. 

It’s waaaaay easier for a company to fail or be unable to pay rent than you think.  What if the employee is fired for stealing? Would they keep paying rent? You run a background check and verify application and you make them both liable for all rent. 

Sorry, no can do…

For all you know the “rent app” sides with tenants. They can say you failed to make a repair and wish to withhold ent to get previous rent returned. 
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I’ve been exclusively EFT for years. The money is deposited in the 1st even, if it’s a Sunday or a holiday, it can’t bounce, and it can’t be taken back. 
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There have been so many changes to make people with bad credit look good they should be fine without this change. 

So if you saw a BEAUTIFUL acre sized horse property on the edge of town that every wanted and every one agreed was worth $1M today. But you knew the local landfill/trash incineration company had been given the ok to build a massive facility in 3 years. You would pay $950k for that property because it’s a deal based on today’s value?

I GUESS you could say that has to be factored in to today’s value. Let’s pretend you’re right. But…what if it was “common local knowledge” but you didn’t know it. To you the value today is $1M. Don’t forget being near a military flight oath or downwind of a pig farm. (This actually happened to me in VEGAS. Luckily it struck as I came out of the inspection. But who would known?)

We could also play the present value to who game? The land banker, the long term landlord, the neighbor that wants to expand their home, or the horse owning owner occupant with no other options?  You can’t win the the present value game unless your plan is the absolute best investment plan, AND an owner occupant or neighbor doesn’t want it. 

There MIGHT be a great realtor you find that has an ok property management team. But I’d suggest you are far better off finding your great property manager first. They are the people you’re going to deal with for years and will affect your results far more than the realtor. If they have a great realtor you like, great, use them. If not, use the great realtor you find. 

I tried to think of a good analogy. But the only thing that came to mind was looking for a good gas station with groceries inside instead of a grocery store with a gas station on site. The groceries would be my first concern. 

You can’t change an existing lease. Until the lease ends and then the legal notice time in your market has passed. But you don’t need a new lease to make a security deposit amendment, that’s just a one page amendment. There’s probably a legal notice period for that too, based on your market. 

If the lease is a do it yourself and/or more than 5 years old you probably want a new one anyway. If you don’t know the legal notice requirements for your market make sure you figure all that out before you do anything. 

Get a modern lease with any missing points (pets, guests, maintenance, landscaping, etc) and the new security deposit. And if you like the current tenant. Maybe you change it to a 12 month lease at $x or MTM at $x plus more money. (MTM leases should cost more than yearly leases.)

It also depends if your tenants have good credit they care about. And if they have been at the same job for 10+ years where you know you’ll be able to garnish their wages easily. Especially if that’s true for both halves of a couple. As opposed to someone that works a year or less at each job or even moves state to state often. 

You probably also find a huge difference between SFR, Small multi and large multifamily. Along with the difference between studio/1br and 4+ bed properties.

Your “don’t evict strategy” could only make sense in a market that literally hates landlords. (New York or CA and those following their lead.) In more than half the country you don’t even bother with cash for keys because evictions are simple, fast and cheap.

The part of the system that’s broken if you’re doing “a lot” of evictions is your screening. You’re either doing a bad job or getting desperate and taking the first tenant to fog a mirror, or both. Tighten up your requirements. (Although it could be you picked a bad market or a bad property class and that’s the kind of tenant you’re going to get. That can only be fixed by selling or dealing with it. Hopefully it’s not combined with the landlord hatred.)

It sounds more like an attempt to either admit they made a mistake or have to do any work to fix their problem.  As weeks go on, why would a tenant ever pay if there’s no threat of eviction? The only ones that will pay are the same ones that would have paid when you filed for the eviction. Rio the bandaid off and move AFAP. Good luck. 

@Daria B. it sounds like you were the seller, you have the credit, and you did a 1031. If that’s correct, here’s my non-expert opinion. 

You lowered the amount you had/have to buy with your exchange. (You only have to buy as much as you net from the sale, this lowered your n.) 

You reduced the amount of untaxed capital gains you’re carrying forward but you didn’t create an expense or a deduction today. I BELIEVE this credit would be treated just like covering buyer’s closing costs. 

Certainly talk to your CPA or your 1031 QI, both of which should have had a 10 second explanation at the tip of their tongue. But that’s how I would expect it to play out.