All Forum Posts by: David Gellner

Hi Andrew,

I am very impressed with Quickbooks and it has many great features which allow me to monitor our family's portfolio. However, as others have mentioned, Quickbooks is a VERY steep learning curve and it does take some time to learn. In my opinion it is very worth it and accountants will love you for learning the program.

When I was doing my setup I purchased the landlord accounting.com manual and it was extremely helpful. I would recommend purchasing a manual/how-to guide that is specifically tailored for rental properties.

Please let me know if you have any other questions and I would be more than happy to help. Thanks1

One thing that I'm noticing is your maintenance of $300 per year. That seems extremely low to me, and I definitely would not estimate that based on anything the current-owner gave me!

I'm just curious, but how come the owner is selling the property and how'd you find this deal?

Hey Paul Nagy,

It seems like thats a decent deal, especially if you are going to self-manage.

I'd just make sure that you understand that you are not putting $600 in your pocket after you pay P&I. Half of your rent, especially if you are going to be holding for a long period of time, will be directed towards expenses/repairs/maintenance.

Also, other more experienced investors will be able to give you a detailed explanation on why you should never rely on inflation/rent increases.

BoA's foreclosure business -- Recontrust -- got kicked out of Washington State, and many others.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-05/bofa-s-recontrust-unit-sued-by-washington-state-over-foreclosure-practices.html

There are houses that are literally rent ready, that have sat for 2-3 years... All the auctions keep getting postponed. =(

Edgar Hernandez, Welcome to the site! I live about 10 minutes away from Everett. Let me know if you want to get together sometime and talk about real estate or have any questions!

Welcome, Stephen!

Hey Arjun K., If this is going to be a buy-and-hold, I wouldn't worry so much about appreciation. I'm still new at investing, but when people focus so much on appreciation I can't help but think back to 2008 with the bubble.

For me, I'd do a typical analysis w/ the 50% rule and look for a property that cash flows at least $100 a month. I'm definitely not going to be buying a property in hopes that it appreciates -- Even if it is VERY likely that it will, it still needs to make me money!

I see you're in Texas, and that is a blessing in my opinion. You have very good things going for you in Texas and the future looks bright. There are a few members in the Austin area that have been talking about the immense competition in the area. Perhaps you can try going a little outside of Austin and look for property were the numbers look.

Steven Hamilton II, I'm jealous of that deal! I think I'm going to move to your area! Got any rooms for rent? =)

Arjun K., I agree with all the advice from the posts above. I'd search for a much better deal.

Hey Craig Montesano, check out this post http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/06/30/introduction-to-real-estate-analysis-investing/

Hopefully that helps you. A good rule-of-thumb is the 50% rule: Expenses (NOT including the P&I payment) will take up half the gross rent.

Gross Rent: 395 x 4 = 1580
50% Rule: 1580 / 2 = 790
P&I: (You'll have to add this in)
Cash Flow: Whatever is left after the P&I payment.

Most investors aim for a minimum of 100$ a door/unit.

I'd start there and then see what some more experience investors think.

Good luck!

What an awesome podcast! I really enjoyed the parts that involved getting traditional loans and establishing a relationship with your lenders.

One thing that I kept wanting to know was how @Arthur Garcia finds his deals since he's working full time. Does he primarily find his deals through agents, direct mail, or other methods?

Thanks again for the awesome podcast! I love listening to these!