All Forum Posts by: Dan Perrott

On one of my properties, I have an eave that needs to be repaired.  The repair requires new aluminum to be installed on the fascia that is above the 2nd floor level on a gable end.  I do not own ladders that allow me to get to the height to make the repair.  The property is on the north side of Indianapolis in the Castleton area.  

Anyone have handyman or contractor recommendations of someone that can assist?

@Daytyn Ragragola Our rentals are in Indianapolis area.  When one of our properties goes up for rent, we receive dozens of potential applicants every time.  We do not have an issue with getting renters in the Indianapolis market.

@Bryan Zuetel - looking at just zip code 43236 (NE side of Indy) - it is listed as a C area in the analysis.  This zip code is huge and can range in areas from D in the south all the way to A++ areas in the north.  This analysis breaks down by zip code where the areas should be broken down street by street.   This breakdown is listing by household average income as the primary driver - income alone does not make an area A, B, C...  

@Dan Palumbo My understanding (being a landlord living in Indianapolis) is that you need to have a local resource that is responsible for the management of the property.  There were too many out of state investors that were not taking care of the properties causing many areas to become extremely run down.  The law was put into place to make sure someone locally can take care of the properties.  They are serious about this now and have taken owners/agents to court and levied fines for not taking care of properties.  You need to register every property in Indianapolis under this law.  

Here is the exact text sent to me in an email renewal reminder on October 30, 2018 from the Landlord Registration Licensing:

"As a reminder there are two contact types that will need to be filled in; Indiana-Based Property Manager & Landlord’s Agent for Service of Process. The Indiana-Based Property Manager will need to be a person residing in the state of Indiana that is responsible for maintenance and repairs at the registered properties. The Landlord’s Agent for Service of Process will need to be a person residing in the state of Indiana that is authorized to receive legal notice on behalf of the landlord. "
If you reside in Indiana and fulfill all of these roles, you can input your same contact information for each of these contacts.

I am not a lawyer or do I provide legal advice.

@Justin R. - I have a minor in accounting.  Only needed to learn how to use the software.  Once it is configured, you can process repeatable processes monthly, quarterly and annually.

@Ray Harrell - you need the pro version to get what you are looking for to manage rentals.  Self-employed version is limited.  Its basically an expense tracker for tax use.

@Martin Kimmel I keep the lease with rent and deposit separate from the Pet Addendum with Pet fee and Pet deposit.  The Pet addendum lists out the exact pet (name, weight, color) and we take pictures of each pet.  We also maintain breed and weight limitations.  

On point to your question is to keep the rent, fees, and deposit listings separated.  In court during a legal battle you do not want the lines blurred.

@Ellen Seagul - if they are on a month to month lease, why did you give them 90 days?  On a month to month, you should have given them 30 days.  

If they do not pay, you should evict.   Start with the quit-pay letter from your lawyer and if there is no response, move to evict.

QuickBooks may seem expensive, but once set up does a great job at tracking the business with little effort.  I use the desktop version of Quickbooks Pro which you can use for multiple years before requiring an upgrade.  You can buy at $300 and use it for 4-5 years.  Price per year is not that expensive.  Cheapest online version is $15/month which is $180/year.  In my opinion, it is work the cost to keep clean books and it makes tax time easier as everything is set up and ready for the tax returns.

@Ray Harrell  We completely self-manage our properties and use sub-contractors as needed.  We use Quickbooks pro for our rental business.  I also keep a log of activities in a spreadsheet so that I can cross reference to entries in Quickbooks (expenses, mileage, deposits, etc).  It takes less than 1/2 hour per month.  We manage 8 doors over 5 physical properties.  I think that I could manage 10x more if needed.  

Quickbooks allows you to save your scanned receipts directly with the transaction (expense, deposit, etc) as well as track vehicle mileage.  It also can export directly into Turbo-tax for the business and personal taxes.

When I began using the software 3 years ago, I hired a Quickbooks consultant to teach me how to use it.  We met a couple of times for about a total of 3 hours and I have been fine on my own ever since.  As a note, I do have a business accounting background so I already had a solid understanding of basis accounting practices.  But if you can manage a checkbook, you can easily manage Quickbooks for your rental business.

Don't be afraid of Quickbooks.  There is plenty of online assistance on YouTube as well as certified consultants to get you started.  It is very easy to use once  you learn it.

@Ayo O. As said by most everyone, tenant screening is the primary defense to bad tenants.  We screen all applicants to a defined set of rental criteria.  Pre-defined rental criteria provides a consistent form for screening tenants.   

I also agree that requiring more than 1 month's rent as a deposit tends to make the tenants return our units in good condition.