All Forum Posts by: John K.

Mindy Jensen - have you considered instead of drafting your own documents just making a directory of the best ones in each state? I know in Wisconsin there are three main places that do them right.

Originally IT, now going back to school part time for accounting and finance.

Let's say you have a house with 4 tenants in a college area, and every year one or two people leave, and their friends become the new tenants (after applying, screening, etc, etc, etc).  How do you handle security deposits for each new lease with rotating people in and out?  

In Wisconsin we send the security deposit with "AND" between each tenants name, so it's made out to all of them together - since many times college students don't have the money to pay a new full security deposit while waiting for the old one to be returned when changing roommates, how do you "apply" their new security deposit to their new lease term and refund the amount due to old tenants leaving?  I have to imagine there are some good creative ways others do this that's within the legal limits of the law.

We pay $5 per credit check for a full credit report (nothing hidden/changed/etc). Can see month by month what was on time and what was late, all balances, etc - and we cover the cost. For tenant screening - we usually do this early on since the $5 is a quick way to just say "sorry, didn't pass credit check" and be done instead of spending tons of time processing through the rest.

We don't charge tenants for the credit report since it only costs us $5 - and since we pay we don't release it. We use to have potential tenants ask for it, and then use it to shop other places. Some states are different; but in WI if they pay for it then they can request a copy. They can also provide a landlord with a recent one and then the landlord can't charge a fee even if they wanted for credit report, but can still pull one at their own cost.

I'm from Madison too! Madison is an awesome strong market, good luck!

Quickbooks - find a good accountant and I'd suggest learning the basics of accounting. Here are some big signs I've seen when buying that books are incorrect: -full mortgage payment every month is listed as expense -depreciation is not on financial statements -owner has not taken depreciation -owner does not know what depreciation is I'd say as a rental property owner / investor these are keys to rental property financials (among other things). Gotta know how to read your numbers and what they mean or you can end up making bad decisions. Doing the books yourself is a great way to keep laser focus on how well you are doing and to learn, and your accountant can correct things and teach you the basics.

Apartment association's recommendation for specific area - every time I'm at Staples buying office supplies and see people buying the pack of carping copy staples brand lease forms I cringe. They are 100% illegal in the state of WI since we require specific language for domestic abuse among other things, without the required language here might as well do a verbal month to month. I've heard many other states are the same way.

Gita Faust - does quickbooks enterprise work well for rentals? I'm frustrated with quickbooks pro, since I want more detailed reports based and the ability to classify the balance sheet better. I'd love to secondary class things so I could filter out and see everything flagged as turnover costs, all in their respective accounts and by property. Does enterprise allow this kind of reporting? What benefits does enterprise offer for rentals?

Steven Hamilton II - are there any good flow charts that show entity and clearly show different tax advantages/disadvantages? I've read this info all countless times and it's always a struggle to grasp. I personally have my rentals with a partnership LLC - I think the LLC return and K1 is a win for the reason of it keeps all the rental stuff together, and makes for cleaner personal tax filings with a "summary" in the K1.