All Forum Posts by: Jamie Banks

I highly recommend using Baselane for managing your rental properties. I personally use it for my portfolio of midterm rentals, which I list on platforms like Airbnb and others. Baselane has been a game-changer for me, saving a significant amount of time compared to manually tracking everything in Google Sheets. One of its standout features is the ability to directly link your Airbnb account, as well as the bank accounts you use to receive rental income and pay expenses.

Another feature I really appreciate is Baselane’s built-in banking option. I’ve set this up to collect my rental income, which keeps everything streamlined and in one place. It eliminates the need for juggling multiple tools or platforms, making managing finances much more efficient.

With two properties, I think Baselane is probably the best option for you. While I’ve seen QuickBooks mentioned in forums, it tends to be more expensive and seems better suited for larger portfolios. Baselane, on the other hand, provides everything you need at a reasonable cost and is tailored for smaller landlords like us.

I get the buildout of expenses can be a lot. Baselane could be a great option for you. A lot of what you're paying for is free / reduced with Baselane. 

For your historical data, I would suggest keeping it in Quickbooks and starting fresh (a new month, year, etc.) in Baselane or a similar software. This way you can access old records without having to recreate them on a separate platform. 

I use Baselane to track my business income and expenses as well. I self manage my properties and run a real estate based service business, I'm able to do bookkeeping for both using Baselane.

I think you / your CPAs should try out a few softwares to see which one works best for you

I use a banking software called Baselane for my rental portfolio. There's options for checking and savings accounts as well as virtual accounts for each property

I rarely allow tours because I take detailed video tours for guests to use. In each market I operate in I have someone available for showings this person is usually my runner who is responsible for quality control and restocking inventory but I've also used a cleaner for this. I usually pay ~$25/drop in. I've also used college students for this. 

Great points! I'm lucky that my HOA does everything from changing the HVAC filters every 3 month to lawn maintenance

I've been thinking about the appreciation issue. I have $100k in appreciation to date. I would likely use the equity to purchase more real estate so I might just 1031 into a new property

 I believe it! There's so much to remove to make the property rent ready. I also had to take time to assess all the furniture. There were some items that just didn't fit the standard I want in my MTRs (like my giant bean bag lol)

I'm in Reston and my HOA's minimum is 3 months thankfully. Anything over that I would have changed it to a LTR

Can the property be legally rented long term (over 30 days)? I imagine you'll have the same issue with the unpermitted kitchenette

If you can rent the property as a MTR then listing on Furnished Finder will probably be your best bet. Furnished Finder has different types of renters but traveling medical professionals is one of the largest tenant types that use the site to find properties

I pretty much list my properties on all short and long term rental sites. I've gotten bookings from both. Here's a few of them:

- ALE Solutions

- Zillow

- Ministays

- My Key

I really think that the biggest pros and cons depends on YOUR goals

I self manage my properties with the help of a VA and I like that I can be hands off now that my VA is trained. I know if we operated short term rentals I would need additional VAs plus it would be more headache for the team.

I've only operated 1 short term rental that I helped an owner convert to a midterm rental. I managed it for a few months and HATED it lol. With midterm rentals, there's a lot more work getting a tenant in the door but it's less work from the management side once someone moves in. The opposite is true for STRs.

MTRs have huge earning opportunities if you look into the B2B model. I've worked with government employees, families who have been displaced by fires, and other clients / employees who are my tenant but aren't financially responsible for the lease. Instead, a business (or goverment entity) is the payer of the lease. With this model I'm able to get a lot more than other MTR operators who are relying on Furnished Finder and Airbnb for bookings.

Being that I only operate MTRs, I price my fees to include this. For example, my cleaning fee on one property is $500, because that's what it cost for a deep clean between tenants. I pass this on to my tenants who understand that it takes a lot to clean a home after someone was there for month(s) at a time.