All Forum Posts by: Brandon Metz

Just posted my first rental on zillow and im a little alarmed. After doing careful market research and comparing to similar rentals around the area my realtor which has quite a few properties himself and I came up with would be more than fair to ask per month. The only problem is the zestimate is estimating $200 lower and its right there on fron for everyone to see of course. This seemed unusual seeing that there is properties for rent very close by in nowhere near as good condition zestimating for more. Do these zestimates actually cause problems for people or is it not really that big of a deal.Im worried it will affect responsed but well see its been online 10 minutes.

@Andrea Hauserman

Thanks i appreciate your input. Thats pretty much exactly what im doing right now so i must be on the right track. Its always great to hear a more experienced opinion. After all the first property is the most stressful.

Yes  get the basics as i have every receipt for anything ever purchased for this property from paint flooring. etc neatly sorted by year and month both physical and in cloud storage. I guess the real question here is i suck at excel and would love to see template examples of some sheets that auto calculate well like for when i input my expenses after rent like percentage saved for vacancy repairs and capital expenditures plus other miscellaneous expenses to help me remain error free. lasrt thing i want to do is realize i forgot something then have to re do the whole thing months from now.

well hear i am trying to construct a perfect google spreadsheet for my duplex. I make progress then realize something and change the whole things and again and again. Maybe i just thinking to hard here. Would anyone like to share their method on smaller book keeping and perhaps i can compare what exactly needs to be recorded and what may just be excess. I only have one property and i live in one half so simple is key. Perhaps their is some links to proven templates out there i can use to get a good idea of how mine should look.

Well just learned today that USAA my primary bank does not offer any type of business checking or savings account which is a bummer. Haven't used anyone else for any kind of banking in a long time so ill be more then glad to take area recommendations. 

your right one property that im living in as well should be fine with some spreadsheets. perhaps im thinking too far down the road at the time.

Well it looks like ill finally be getting into my first house-hack as long as everything in the buyers process goes smooth. One area that is still a little foggy for me is book keeping. Id love to hear some opinions/recommendations on what this community uses as an aid when it comes to tracking all expenses so i can take a look and a possible test. Ill only have my first property for now but i would love to find something easily expandable.

Thanks for all the great advice as usual guys. I see alot less listings showing up recently but the old saying stays true. Better to wait for a good deal then force a bad one.

Yea thats the hard part about Cleveland how it varies so much block to block. i guess for the locals here real specific would be the west boulevard, west park, Jefferson, detroit shore way, triskett, and cudell area

@Bob Collett im seeing a lot of activity around 44111 and 44102 very mixed in home conditions and prices. very intriguing 

@Herndon Davis  okay im planning to do screening this way regardless of whether its an A through C neighborhood. i Guess the fine print is extra important here.