All Forum Posts by: Brandon Mendez

Rosy Bruno I agree with the recommendation for Quickbooks. It has a lot of functionality that you will appreciate as you get a better understanding of financial statements. My recommendation, as made by others, is to have an accountant help get you started. The problem with trying to do it yourself is that you don't know what you don't know. For instance, I had a client that had attempted to keep his own books, but didn't know what he was doing and he ultimately gave up on it after about two years. I came into the picture at year 5 and had to start at day zero because nothing was right and, more importantly, I realized could not rely on his work. In the end, he ended up paying a lot more money because I had to charge him an hourly rate to fix 5 years worth of business transactions. I'm not saying you will give up, I am saying that even if you bring in an accountant down the road, he/she is going to have to review all of your work to make sure it is accurate before moving forward. It may prove easier and less costly to get setup by an accountant, learn the system, then take over your own books.

@Michael Greenberg Thank you for the response.  A PM will follow shortly.

@Valerie Rogers Thank you for the response.  I will look into the sites you mentioned.

My wife and I are considering purchasing our first rental property with the intent of utilizing it as a short term rental property through Airbnb. It is a studio unit in a condo building that allows short term rentals. A major concern for me is that we don't know the annual average occupancy rate and the annual average price per night. I purchased a report from AirDNA for the zip code the property is located in and used the Rentalizer tool on their website in an attempt to gain better data to analyze the potential purchase. Based on these tools, my expectation is that the property will break even or cash flow up to $4,000 per year. Looking at other Airbnb rentals in the area, they seem to do better than AirDNA's data suggests, but I know I don't get to see the actual price a room is booked for. Does anyone have any experience with the AirDNA reports or the Rentalizer tool? If so, how does the AirDNA analysis compare to your results with your short term rental? Thanks, Brandon

You're welcome

Hello, I have been listening to the BiggerPockets podcasts and noticed that mobile home park investing is mentioned frequently.  My wife showed me this mobile home park for sale near us and I thought I would pass along the info.

http://www.realestatecrawfordville.idxbroker.com/i...

We saw it on FaceBook listed by the realtor for $250,000.  Not sure if it is still for sale.

I am just passing along the info for anybody that may be interested on BiggerPockets and I do not want a fee/kickback.  

I do not know any additional information about the park that has not been included in the listing or posted on FaceBook.

Thank you for the warm welcome Rene Remington and Maria McCreless

Thanks for the warm welcome @Melvin List, @Chris Grenzig, and @Tom Ott

Hello everyone, my name is Brandon Mendez and I currently reside in Tallahassee, FL.  I started listening to BiggerPockets podcasts in April and I was hooked on them immediately.

I am a CPA and doctoral student studying Finance at Florida State University. In addition, I am a partner in Acreage Land Acquisition, LLC, a land investment business that I co-founded with two close friends earlier this year.

Currently, I am interested in single family fix-and-flips and multifamily buy-and-hold properties.  My interest in fix-and-flips is due to the quick capital appreciation it offers in the short-term.  Long-term, I like the cash flow offered by multifamily properties.

I "flipped" the first home I bought, but it was not a quick flip.  I purposefully bought a home that needed to be updated, put some money and sweat equity into the house to increase the market value, and sold after two years.  Why two years?  I wanted to take advantage of the tax loophole that allows a homeowner to sell his/her primary residence after living in it for two years and not pay taxes on the profits up to $250,000 for a single taxpayer and $500,000 for joint taxpayers.

I am glad I joined the BiggerPockets community and I look forward to expanding my network and real estate knowledge.