All Forum Posts by: Erik McKenna

Were you surprised by how much your property taxes increased this year? Are you thinking about appealing your property taxes? Join us as Mark Hanley discusses everything you need to know about the process of appealing property taxes.

Mark is a Senior Account Executive in the Construction and Real Estate Group that leads the growth initiatives for Property Tax Appeal, Cost seg and all service lines within the CRE Group Nationally.
This event will be hosted in-person AND streamed via Zoom. The presentation will start around 6:30pm and can be accessed through the below link.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83205195062

Following the presentation will be time for networking. Food and drinks will be provided!

This event is proudly sponsored by Smart Asset Capital.

@Joe Splitrock thanks for the response. My apologies for the beyond late reply but between my day job, real estate agent, REI, and this deal I have been consumed. Your response definitely gave me another wrinkle that I needed to consider but wasn't. You were correct, (and I was incorrect while referring to it as an ARM) it was a commercial loan. I closed today and opted for the 3 year over the 5 year term and the main reason why was my betting on the future rate. I thought there was a better chance of me catching a similar good rate in 3 years as opposed to 5. I also weighed the closing costs as you mentioned into the my decision. Assuming a refi is somewhere in the 2-3k range in 3 years I would still be ahead based on the .5% lower APR.

I do believe there is probably no correct decision in a matter like this.  Just personal preference and maybe some luck as to where the rates are when it comes your time to refinance.  Although I think good education could limit risk in these matters none of us have a crystal ball that we can know for sure if we made the right choice before hand.

Time will tell how we did.  Thanks again for the advice!

I am purchasing my first building bigger than a 4 family but I think this should be thought about for any purchase using a commercial loan.  This will be my third investment property.  I am trying to decide if I should go with the shorter loan with lower rate or a longer term with a higher rater that cant go up as quickly.  I know we have been in a very weird (in all aspects of life) time lately but generally, interest rates have been pretty low for the few years I have been doing this so its tough for me to think that they are going to sky rocket in the future.  That being said I cant predict the future so absolutely they could. 

For those who love information.

12 unit Building

490k Purchase price

Loan 392K

3 year ARM @ 4.75% = $2,235 / month

5 year ARM @ 5.25% = $2,349 / month

The 3 year obviously has an advantage of $115 saved a month that I could use to help bulk of savings for any unforeseen event.  The other aspect I like is the fact that I can refi sooner and save an additional (roughly) $175 ($2,058 / month) a month if rates stayed the same.  If rates jumped up to 5.5% my payments would end up around $2,220 a month which would be pretty much the same.

If I chose the 5 year that would force me to wait an extra two years before refinancing but would drop my payments to $1,950 at 4.75% or about $2,130 if rates went up to 5.5%.  

It seems like the 3 year is the way to go but not being able to control where rates go in 3 years makes my mind race. 

Would love to hear everyones thoughts and how they weigh their options!

Thanks

This is not an online meeting.  This is a live and in person meeting at 200 W Main St in Waukesha.  It is the office of Smart Asset Realty.  We are going to try to space things out more than usual.  No food will be served during the event this time.  Obviously feel free to take any precautions that you deem necessary. 

I look forward to seeing how everyone has used Covid-19 to stay active in their REI endeavors!

Come listen to an experienced investor share his wealth (of knowledge) about out of market investing and managing a rehab!

Nate Shields is a Real Estate Investor and Real Estate Investing Coach. He has had some of his work and literature featured on Bigger Pockets. He has also been a guest on REI 365 Podcast (episode 15) and featured in Illinois REALTOR® Magazine.

Nate started investing in 2013 as a part-time agent and was soon able to quit his full time job to focus on Real Estate. After finding Bigger Pockets he dove even deeper, found a partner, and quickly lined up financing to purchase a property at auction. Two and a half years later they had 25 units in three states!

In addition to purchasing SFR, small and large multifamily, Nate also loves to help coach and mentor new investors.

Nate Shields graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in Biblical Studies from Judson University.

Follow Dude Real Estate Coaching on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook

Say Farewell to one of the founding members of our Wisconsin Apartment Investors meet up as @Geoff Stuhr bids us farewell as he ventures west to start another chapter!

@Nate Shields

It has been a long time but I just wanted to add that I found two really great products that so far have been wonderful for me.  (Ill post again to let you know how the accountant feels about them).  On the property side it is called Rental Hero.  It breaks down expenses and income down to the individual unit not just the property (you can still see each property as a whole also).  It has been wonderful and much more user friendly for me.  You can upload and store receipts, post your contracts to each unit, send messages and much more.   They also take in suggestions on how to better their product and are sincere about it.  That being said I have no stake what so ever in that company just figured I would make a post.  If anyone wants to try it.  I believe its about $100 a year or something.  Feel free to use my code.  I think its a win win for both of us.  

Rental Hero Referral code- 10424

There is also another one I like for Real Estate Agents out there called RealtyZam

RealtyZam Referral code is- 17783

I am really looking forward to this one!

@Joseph R Fornwalt I like the envelope system.  Whether for personal finances or business it could be beneficial to both.  

@Liza B. I am in the same boat.  I misplace receipts and things like that. Or if I don't put them away (because i need to be better at organization) my wife moves them on me. Is a photo of a receipt just as good as the actual receipt?

@Dutch Langley Have you tried both QB and Xero?  Obviously you are using Xero so would you say that is cleaner or more user friendly then QB? I don't have employees and unfortunately I do not get paid for the work that I do so that wouldn't be beneficial just yet to worry about payments for people.    

@Theresa Harris I definitely agree that writing things down has its place.  It would be especially beneficial for me  for me to track down mileage and notes on where I went to help keep track of that.  

@Scott Smith Maybe I am not using QuickBooks to its full advantage.  It helps me keep track of money in and money out.  However I find it very unhelpful come now (tax time).  I found excel has a wonderful general ledger form that I converted into a very useful tax time tool.  However I cannot export my QB data and easily convert it so my CPA has handy information and isn't struggling to sort through what expenses fall into what category.  Maybe I am not using the best names to categorize my expenses (Repairs, Maintenance, Legal, etc.) the way the IRS needs to see them and am trying to make due with to many QuickBooks names.  My assumption would be that you can print off some kind of report similar to the one I have shown (my previous years excel sheet when I had way fewer expenses to worry about)?