All Forum Posts by: Bonnie Low

Quote from @Tim Bee:

Quote from @Bonnie Low:

If you have the ability to do it now, do it. I completely disagree that able bodied people are "turned off" by these amenities and if they are, how sad is that. Nowadays, design is so advanced you'd often not even know it's built to be accessible. That said, there is a considerable lack of accessible properties everywhere and there definitely IS demand. I have a vacation rental in North Carolina and I'd say at least once a month I get asked by someone looking to book whether or not it's accessible. And while it's not currently, this is something my husband and I had talked about doing and were planning to do before (ironically and sadly) he got very, very ill. After he became completely paralyzed, I found myself wondering if we'd ever be able to use our own vacation home because it wasn't accessible for him and it made me realize just how limited and unwelcoming the world is for people with disabilities. In the midterm rental community, it is regularly discussed how frequently people inquire about accessible properties, particularly in the highest end insurance placement niche where there is, indeed, a price premium on accessible properties. Personally, I'm sick of the "what's in it for me" mentality. You can be a business minded person and someone who wants to provide opportunity for others. The two can and should co-exist. It sounds like you're at a point in your project where you could make these modifications in a cost effective manner. I commend you for considering that. While few people will ever tell you they passed on renting your property because they didn't like the accessibility features, you'll know for sure when someone doesn't rent it because of the lack of these features.

I can tell you that as a buyer I would not want hand rails, ramps, these weird wide doors to walk through and some walk in bath tub that has a door on it.  I'd pass up on an ADA home unless I'm an ADA patient.  These days homes can be extremely expensive and I'm not going to spend my hard earned money to settle for a home that has all these funky changes.  

It's too bad that physical limitations equate to "funky changes" in your mind. Just wait until you or someone you love becomes disabled and you'll find yourself viewing those funky features with new eyes. May it never come to that for you. I never thought it would for me....until it did. 

Quote from @Garrett Ramela:

I’ve been using Baselane for roughly three years now and think it’s great! If you’re looking to get off Excel and don’t want to pay a bunch of money for a tool like Buildium, it’s great! I have three addresses with 12 units and it handles everything well! I’m happy to even hop on the phone with you and give you a walk through if it makes sense. You can also join the Baselane User Group on Facebook to get more insights.

I agree with Garrett. It wasn't difficult at all to make the switch the Baselane. It was pretty easy to import past transactions and get myself caught up. I was previously using a bookkeeper and she used Quickbooks, which was too much for me to manage myself and it was costing me a fortune to have her do it for me. I was a little hesitant to make the transition because I was worried it would be chaotic, but it was pretty much seamless. 

Quote from @Ghizal Miri:

I have 4 rental homes. Just started getting serious and diving in full time doing real estate investing. I came across Baselane to scale my rental properties. I am looking for a good software or website that can show me an accurate accounting of cash flow/profits, and money coming in and out. Do you have any recommendations? 

Hi, Ghizal. I have a combination of LTR, MTR and one STR and I use Baselane for all my properties. I have used a variety of methods over the years but have settled on Baselane. I just think it's a great platform specifically for real estate investing. The UI is great and it's very intuitive. It's easy to have accounts set up for each property as well as sub-accounts for things like security deposits. I love the virtual credit cards option, too. I just find that it's making it so easy to categorize transactions and have it ready to go for tax season. It's a great option.

Quote from @Blake Dials:

If I am renting a property of mine just under my personal name do I need to set up a separate bank account and pay the property loan, taxes, insurance etc out of that separate account? Or can i just pay everything out of my personal accounts. Asking for tax purposes. 

Thank you!

 There are two separate issues here: one is combining your personal and business banking which can complicate filing your taxes and is generally frowned upon. The other issue is that you want to protect your personal assets from liability caused by your rental property. If you're co-mingling your finances, you will have negated any liability protection a proper corporate entity structure could provide. Bottom line, if you're operating as a business you should be keeping business and personal completely separate.

It isn't necessary to have your lease agreements notarized. I don't know anyone who does. That said, I strongly recommend you use a service like Avail.co or Turbo Tenant to draft a state-specific lease agreement. It is imperative that you protect yourself (and your guests) by using the legal language and requirements of the state you're operating in. These programs are roughly equivalent and similar in price. I've used both. You can easily send the out for e-signatures, which are legal and binding as I understand it but always check that with your attorney. Using a notary is added expense and time. It also sounds like you're trying to get all of the tenants to sign the same lease. If these are individuals and not members of the same family I would want invidual leases with each person. 

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

This is very possible but as mentioned, very market specific. 

I operate in a few markets and two of them are Philadelphia, PA and Reston, VA. In Philly, my current tenant is paying 3x the long term rent through CRS (a temporary housing provider) because he lost his home due to a fire.

However, in Reston, long term rental rates are a lot higher and the MTR rates are closer to 1.5 - 2x long term rent. 

I've been on the LL diaries podcast and am not knocking other hosts but keep in mind that a lot of hosts entered into the market in 2020 or earlier where rental rates in the Sunbelt markets like Nashville, Austin, Houston, Charlotte, etc. had very low rent rates. I can see the rates they're advertising being possible BUT I doubt that they'd had the same spread if they were signing leases in today's market. 

 Great point, Jamie, about hosts who bought in years prior. The underlying metrics were so different then and it does affect cash flow and profitability. I wish podcast hosts were better about getting the guests to disclose important details like that. I don't anyone is doing it to be intentionally misleading, but it is a very important part of the conversation. Especially for new investors.

Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

Hey @Bonnie Low - Just curious...how many MTR operators do you have in the group out of Chicago? 

I have one MTR here in Chicago and curious to see how it's working for other people in the area?

I honestly can't remember where everyone is from, Jonathan. But we've got members from CA, Maine, Detroit, Philly, Cheyenne, Iowa, New Orleans, Cleveland, DC, Virginia, Texas, Las Vegas, Annapolis, KC....so pretty much all over. If you need to specifically connect with someone in Chicago I'd be happy to ask around for you. Just message me. 

If you haven't already read it, I'd recommend you pick up the book 30 Day Stay by Zeona McIntyre and Sarah D. Weaver. They literally wrote the book on midterm rentals and cover how to analyze markets. You also need to have a thorough understanding of who is traveling to your area and why so you can make sure your property is suitable for travelers.

Without knowing how many bedrooms & bathrooms, who your target guest is and what your strategy is (rent-by-room, entire place, etc) it's impossible to answer. Generally speaking, families want at least one bath tub for bathing small children and for relaxing. Having the bathroom in the master suite makes both of these things possible so I don't think it's a drawback if you don't also have a tub in another bathroom. If you're renting by room, most travelers don't require a bath tub and definitely not if it's a shared bathroom. It's just not a deal killer in most situations so if you like everything else about it, I'd pull the trigger!

Some people will list their property as 'coming soon' on some of the local MTR specific pages or pages like Travel Nurse Gypsy Housing. However, I don't see them getting a lot of traction if they have no photos unless they have other properties they can at least reference. People are very wary of being scammed so they're reluctant to put down a deposit when they can't even see what the furnished unit is going to look like. 3/1's can be hard to rent as MTRs. Just keep that in mind. Hard, but not impossible.