All Forum Posts by: Mark Vieira

I have done a little bit of research and it sounds like Yardi is the best, albeit pricey, property management software available. Buildium doesn't do commercial which I need.

Yardi requires a 1 year contract and a $2400 annual min spend so my question for all of you is, before I sign on the dotted line, is there anything you do not like about the program? Any reason why you would advise against it?

My other question is how is the accounting side of Yardi? Easier to use than Quickbooks? Does it allow you to do personal accounting as well as property accounting on the program?

Lately, I have been a little shocked at some of the pricing I ave been getting from licensed and insured contractors to do work. I have access to people in the trades that I could just have come and do work for me, but I haven't in the past because I haven't had a workmans comp policy. Does anyone know if it would be possible for me to get a workmans comp policy for my own projects even though I myself am not a licensed contractor?

There are smart phone apps now that are time sheets and the employee can only punch in or out when they are within a certain radius of the job site. That coupled with a commercial account at Home Depot giving your guys access if you trust them and it seems to me like something that could possibly save some money by circumventing the contractors profit.

My insurance guy told me that to do the work I am describing I would have to be a licensed contractor in order to get a workmans comp policy but I don't think he is right. There must be a way to do it as an owner builder. Does anyone have any suggestions on this?

Thanks for the great feedback. This definitely has me considering just buying my own units and going that route. 

Is there a rule of thumb for roughly how much a family would spend on laundry each month? That might help me get a sense for how much money I would be leaving on the table if I went with the agreement with WASH.

This particular area seems to be a bit on the poorer side. I am not sure how much different the rent amounts would be if I had in unit washers and dryers. 

I recently bought a 14 unit garden apartment value add deal and currently am trying to get the laundry room situation dialed in. The current laundry room is small and can only accommodate (1) washer and (1) dryer. A couple of the units have plumbing for washer and dryers but I plan on safing all of that off as I go and remodel each unit. I pay for the water so it doesn't make sense for me to let them do that in unit anymore.

I have a proposal from WASH to install the units, maintain them, and then give me a check for 50% of the gross every month.

- Is this a good deal for me and comparable to what other companies could offer me? I am self managing from 2 hours away so I do need someone that can handle the laundry and collect the money as opposed to doing it myself.

- Has anyone had experiences with WASH and can share how it was?

- Any other tips, tricks, or pitfalls as I gear up to sign a lease with these guys? It's either a 3 or a 5 year lease term...

Not sure how to hyperlink, but Frank the insurance expense is astronomical in its current state...$750 a month until I get the whole property dialed in at which time I can get it down to around $3,000 annually. Its not in a floodplain.

Thanks Rhondalette! 

Here is the before and after on the first unit. I was able to rent it out and it is now occupied.

I recently bought a 14 unit property in northern CA for $130,000. It was bank owned and most of the units were/are still un inhabitable. I am going through and fixing up each unit one at a time, and then renting them out. My plan is to hold the property for the long term for the cash flow, but I will be into it for $400k to $500k and fully leased at approx. a 9% cap it would be worth in the $750-$850k range. Here are some pics:

I am not an attorney, but here is my take on the situation. You are correct in that if you have a lease in place, the only way you can modify that agreement is if both parties sign an addendum to that lease that in this case would move up the termination date of the lease. Provided your tenant was in good standing, and did not agree to the addendum, you wouldn't be able to modify the lease.

If your tenant is wiling to play ball, perhaps you could make a deal with them that would entail you not following through with the eviction, IF they agree to move out earlier and then actually do get out and leave the place in decent shape. You could explain to them that an eviction would result in an unlawful detainer and affect their credit and that you then would have a money judgement against them and that going your route would be a win win for both parties.

I think most prop managers are in the 6% to 10% of gross range. Their effective rate gets a tad higher if you factor in their leasing fees. It also seems to be regional. The property managers I spoke to in the midwest were charing 10% while the ones I spoke to in the west were 6% to 8%...

@David C. I currently am using Sonoma County Credit Services, but I don't think they are better or worse than any other collections agent..I actually can't recommend them too highly as they haven't really gotten me anything. They say they attach to a persons credit report for 10 years and that the person will need to clear the debt to repair their credit. I guess it is a waiting game but I haven't really invested enough time in finding a company that is really great at collections if there is such a thing...