All Forum Posts by: Bonnie Low

Definitely agree with #2. The raw numbers can be overwhelming. And it's easy to track too many things instead of focusing on some key metrics. 

Congratulations on getting started. I see you're interested in the MTR strategy. Atlanta is a great market that draws a lot of travelers and does well with insurance placements as well. What type of traveler are you targeting with your MTR strategy? 

Quote from @Juan Lizarazo:

Hi! So, I have 4 properties. What do you guys use for book keeping, to categorize transactions and generate Profit and Loss reports for your CPA? 

I am using stessa, but I am wondering if there is something better out there I should look at, easier to use. 

I used to use Quickbooks and found it overwhelming - from the setup to using it daily. In fact, we ended up paying a bookkeeper $450/month plus the $90 subscription to QB online to manage our relatively small portfolio. After I did some digging and realized how much it was costing us, I switched to Baselane and I am very glad I did. Baselane is very user friendly and was created by real estate investors FOR real estate investors and it shows. It has everything I need to manage the books and nothing I don't. Because it's a banking and bookkeeping platform I can set up individual bank accounts quickly and easily in Baselane and keep track of revenue and expenses for each property and easily run basic and customizable reports. My CPA was pretty impressed and the funny thing is that so was my bookkeeper when I showed her!


I used to use Quickbooks and found it overwhelming - from the setup to using it daily. In fact, we ended up paying a bookkeeper $450/month plus the $90 subscription to QB online to manage our relatively small portfolio. After I did some digging and realized how much it was costing us, I switched to Baselane and I am very glad I did. Baselane is very user friendly and was created by real estate investors FOR real estate investors and it shows. It has everything I need to manage the books and nothing I don't. Because it's a banking and bookkeeping platform I can set up individual bank accounts quickly and easily in Baselane and keep track of revenue and expenses for each property.

Co-living is one niche within the broader MTR segment. I absolutely would not recommend that you attempt to limit who you are renting to based on their level of education. That in and of itself is likely to spark some discrimination problems for you and level of education is no guarantee that people will get along anyway. They can have vastly different backgrounds, religions, political ideologies etc and still have the same level of degree. When you are renting to multiple people it is their responsibility to get along with one another, not yours. You can attempt to assure compatibility by interviewing them and taking into consideration your other tenants, but at the end of the day, they're adults and it's up to them to get along. Anyone who makes friction for other guests can have their lease terminated and that should be very clearly spelled out in the lease itself. This situation is why I don't like the rent by room model and wouldn't use it myself, but some people are very successful at running harmonious co-living arrangements. 

Quote from @Becca Pariser:

Does anyone have experience with using either Baseline (https://www.baselane.com/) or Relay (https://relayfi.com/) when it comes to managing rentals and banking? I've heard Baseline ads on the podcasts, but I've also heard promotions for Relay. I'm looking to set up a "Profit First" system and interested if folks have experience with either?

I looked at both Relay and Baselane and ended up going with Baselane. I experienced problems trying to set up my Relay bank account. Really simple things that should have been easily taken care of by customer service but I could not get them to understand the problem I was encountering and it would take days to get a response. I had heard about Baselane, too, so I decided to check it out. I liked all the features and it was super simple to set up. I'm really glad I chose Baselane. Previously, I had been spending a LOT of money each month using Quickbooks and paying a bookkeeper to manage it for me. Baselane is so easy to use I can do it all myself for my 5 properties, and believe me, I am no bookkeeping whiz! It's easy to set up an account for each property and sub-accounts under that, which is how I would integrate the profit first model if I were you. For example, each of my properties has a main account and the sub-accounts under that for CapEx and security deposits. You could easily have a sub-account for profit first and split incoming payments into whatever buckets you choose.

Hi, Katie. Congrats on getting your first property - that's very exciting! And it's good that you're already thinking about systems to manage it. I use Baselane. I've used other programs in the past (Quickbooks) and an old fashioned spreadsheet, but neither worked for me. I love the simplicity and user friendliness of Baselane. It's very thoughtfully designed specifically for real estate investors by real estate investors so it doesn't have features you don't need and won't use. I like that I can quickly set up bank accounts for each property and sub-accounts under those so I can keep my property finances in "buckets" as I like to think of it. The virtual credit card feature is also really slick. I have specific credit cards set up for my cleaners, handymen, etc. so when I see a charge come through for that card I know exactly what it's for and what property it's associated with. It makes categorizing expenses very easy. I also like having my tenant vetting, lease agreements and rent collection all in one place on my dashboard through Baselane's partners. I'm glad I switched. I just wish it was around when I started way back when! Hope this is helpful. 

Quote from @Aaron Breckenridge:

Quote from @Marcus Auerbach:

Same with the "vote down" button. Can't do that, but I often wish for one, when I see someone receiving horrible advice from someone with zero personal investments telling others what they should do..

Other social networks allow downvotes once you reach a particular karma threshold. I think that works pretty well and maybe something BP could incorporate here.

 Yessss - this is what we need!

Quote from @Skyler Lehman:

I’m still in the learning phase of real estate investing. What do you pay for property management and how many units? Should I manage my own properties just starting out? Thanks! 

It will be different in every market so you need to call some local PM companies to find out what they're charging and what is included for that price. It's not unusual for LTR property management to run about 10% of rents, though I've seen higher and lower numbers and the more properties you put under one company's management the more likely it is you get a better rate. Rates for midterm rentals usually run 15-25% but, again, this varies and so does the level of service. Rates for managing a STR can be 25% and above. There are just too many variables to answer more precisely than that.

I understand where you're coming from. As an investor, I will always ask for the rent rolls or P/L for a property so I have some idea of the income and expenses. I think most investors do ask if it's available. We all have to do our due diligence and no one should be taking for granted that what you were able to generate is what they will be able to generate, but it's not uncommon at all to ask to see the financials. I would be firm with the agent that you want wording that states something along the lines of "property is currently used as a successful midterm rental for 30+day stays and financials are available upon request." Unless, like Bill suggested, there is some kind of local restriction on the property usage that you have been unknowingly violating. If your agent won't support you on this, get a different agent. 

Quote from @Summer Chen:

Hi Bonnie, 

This is very helpful. Much appreciated!

Regarding tenant application, do you ask each tenant to fill out the complete California rental application form which requests all previous employment and residence details or only ask for the tenant's SSN and driver's license?

 I don't use an application. I start with a conversation with the person to understand what they're looking for and whether or not my property is a good fit for them. If that checks out, we do the background check next and so on as I described before. And yes, I require every person over the age of 18 who will be staying in the house to go through the background check and be a signer on the lease.