All Forum Posts by: Dunn Dela Cruz

Hey BP need some pro tips and advice,

End of March we will be launching our 1st mid term rental (traveling nurses), what software do you guys recommend for landlording tools ie. receive payments, keep track of financial expenses,etc. Looking to find a software that “has it all”.  I’ve already  got a few suggestions to use Excel but want to see if there is something that is much easier to use on  PC&mobile app.

Plus if there are any other helpful  tools you guys suggest  plus other things I should focus on before the launch.

Hello BP!

I need your guys helping advice on a few things before launching our 1st STR/MTR.

We have about 1 month until we launch our rental. We have found a Traveling Nurse who will stay in our condo (2bd/2bath) late march for 6 months! 

I’m in the middle of sprucing up the place and doing minor renovations to provide  a quality stay. We’ve been buying furniture, sinks, etc. our worry is staying organized with receipts to keep track of progress,expenses and most importantly tax deductibles

Question: what software is best to use to keep track of everything  financial?ie.rent,expenses,receipts,etc. we have been saving receipts and jotting everything down in a notebook.(old school🥴)

We have heard good and bad about quickbooks, I also looked into Rentastic. Are there any good suggestions for a beginner like me for a reliable software? 

We want to start as organized as we can and “perfect” from the gate. We understand things will be missed and lessons to be learned and there are minor mistakes that must be made to learn from and grow.

Thank you for the advice MUCH APPRECIATED!  yes, we will be staying with the in laws and aim to house hack/ multi family once we find a property.

My wife and I are taking our first step to REI by turning our condo into a LTR in (Valencia)Santa Clarita,California. Ive done the DD in my area as far as comp rental prices and management companies. Our main concern is to find out if it is worth refinancing our condo before taking any other moves before renting it out.

We are shopping around for the best deal, so far we found a low interest rate but obviously the closing cost is pretty high.

we plan on keeping this condo as long as the cashflow makes sense (10 years or more)

Ive ran the numbers and the cashflow is in our favor, but "can we take advantage of the low rates lenders supposedly have?" any advise on this ?

Is it worth to refincance even though it will take YEARS to break even with the closing cost?

and we would like to tap in our equity to purchase another property, what move would be best, cash out refi or Heloc, etc.?

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $375,000
Cash invested: $25,000

First home investment from 2018, my wife and I put in $15000 on renovations ( all done by yours truly). Now that we have equity on our home we want to take our next step with real estate investing. We are moving towards on making our condo a Short Term Rental and quickly adjust it to a Long Term Rental if short term doesn't work for us. Use the equity we have and do it all over again with a different property. I wish I new about BIGGERPOCKETS sooner.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Investing was not our goal, we just wanted a place we can call our own (mindset before BiggerPockets). Until we quickly realized we weren't going to be financially free and will be stuck in the same ol "rat race" as most people do. After a few trials, life challenges and finally stumbling into the Bigger Pockets community....Our journey to be financially free began.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We did not do our DD, we just trusted everything with our Agent (big NO NO ). Fortunately it all went well for us newbies.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA loan

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We ran into so many challenges, to name one, I had ZERO experience with doing renovations, sounds like a fairy tale but it honestly all worked out, I was patient and I really believed I could get it together and get the job done. I've definitely learned that I need to do my homework, due diligence, and ask for advise/help. It is such a humbling experience when you find inside of the wall is covered in mold...YUP.