All Forum Posts by: Grace Gudenkauf

@Jason Hanson I highly recommend you don't use excel as it sounds like you have a decent sized portfolio and are likely to scale. Get on a great PM software like TenantCloud or Buildium NOW to save yourself the hassle of trying to onboard everyone further down the road. The extra $50 for TC's top subscription is 100% worth it. I also recommend you start a QuickBooks subscription NOW. Again you do not want your BK to build up down the road, and end up costing you more to unravel then if you had just onboarded to a great software in the first place. Good luck! 

Does your contract list response times or job description/duties? That is absolutely unacceptable and I would look further into your contract to see how you can fire them. Before hiring a lawyer look into all of the paperwork and contracts you sign. You might be able to send a notice and simply be out of the contract. 

Together @Amelia McGee and I  self-manage 60+ units and have a wealth of experience in landlording. We believe learning how to be a self-managing landlord will be instrumental in starting and scaling your real estate investing portfolio. We have found the biggest benefits of self-managing our rental properties to be:

1. 1) Exponentially Higher Cash Flow
2. 2) Higher Quality tenants and therefore rentals
3. 3) More time freedom from your optimally performing portfolio

Are you self-managing or using a property manager for your rental properties? Please share some of your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a self-managing landlord, and Amelia and I will be here to connect and help think of ways to self-manage efficiently!Want to learn more about self-managing? We have the book for you! 

We are extremely proud to launch our book The Self-Managing Landlord  and it's officially out!

Get it from the BP Bookstore here!

I would recommend that once you set your rental requirements (And if you haven't, make an actual list) do your best to STICK to them. This is the best way to eliminate gut or emotional decision making. As a business owner you need a systemized way to make a black and white decision, you do not want to have to go on a case-by-case scenario. So whatever you decide, add it to your "policies" and stick to it the next time around. 

I agree that if you are going to require a second check that you should pay for it. 

To answer this I would look for similar rental listings with the only difference being what you mentioned above. That would be the best way to understand the pricing difference. 

No critiques, looks like a great place! If you are having trouble finding applicants I would recommend adding to to facebook, groups, and more. I use TenantCloud and when I make a listing on there it actually pushes it out to a ton of website. 

Facebook marketplace or even a "buy/sell/trade" group within Facebook could be a great spot. 

Baselane and Innago are both free sites to collect rent, but are not as robust in other areas such as maintenance, communication etc.