All Forum Posts by: Jillyan MacMorris

I understand where everyone else is coming from but I do use Baselane, and I love it! It is 100% online and you can open many accounts. For each property, I have a few accounts including a high interest earning savings account for reserves within the platform. If you're curious about Baselane specifically, I'd be happy to show you mine sometime! Shoot me a message directly.

 Thank you for your input! That helps give me some tracks to run on.

Thanks so much for the advice! Common advice I've received from other landlords is to avoid them because they often leak or fail and are difficult to maintain. I have never provided a water dispenser/ice maker in any of my other units, but rather a Brita and ice trays with no complaints. I appreciate you sharing your experience with those makes!

 That is very helpful to know, thank you!

 Thank you! I am trying to avoid an ice maker and probably a water dispenser. Just something basic that is serviceable and lasts.

Baselane was actually built for preparing taxes! The chart of accounts is structured around the Schedule E, so you simply export it and send to your tax professional. This will be my first year submitting from Baselane since I switched from QuickBooks Online and it's already infinitely easier!

Hey there René!

From Excel, I originally switched to QBO, but I had to do quite a bit of finagling to build it properly for my use as a REI. I used it for a few months and it worked fine, but I ended up switching mid-year to Baselane. Have you heard of it? It's a banking/accounting software where the structure of the chart of accounts actually fills out your Schedule E. This will be the first year I will be able to deliver to my tax man a really clear, concrete report. You can organize your entries by unit, and it's all free to use. QBO I think was $30/month.

It sounds like my refrigerator/freezer is passing away! I would love any advice on landlords' favorite brands or models that last well and are not complicated. And are there any tricks to for the purchase as a landlord? I am planning to make the purchase with a Black Friday sale!

I LOVE the idea of simplifying my tech stack with a solution like Monday.com. I'm an MTR operator too, and I needed to learn to cobble system integrations together in the beginning to understand the benefit of bringing so much of operations together in one place! In addition to some of what you've mentioned, I have also been able to eliminate Turno! I love them for their cleaner marketplace, but now that I have an established cleaner relationship, I'd prefer to avoid the fees and pay her better directly!

Thank you for tagging me @Jamie Banks! I love this question. Have you operated an MTR before? My biggest piece of advice is to get a killer rental agreement/lease for Cook County. I don't use any of the boilerplate options, even from the realtors association. I would also make sure to add addenda regarding pets and furnishings, and make sure of course that any HOAs allow flexible leasing. Make sure to get a pretty tight tech stack figured out, especially to track your income and spending. Send me a direct message if you'd like to chat further! I exclusively operate in Cook County.