All Forum Posts by: Kole Kingslien

@Natalie Kolodij

I am also on the hunt for a Real Estate CPA for Tax prep, planning, and filing. Any contacts you might have would be greatly appreciated!

@Andrew Curro

Yes, I do see a time where outsourcing would be better if not necessary. I think it's really going to depend on tenant and property class. For example, 20 A class Properties with A class tenants are going to be 1000 times less difficult and time demanding than 20 C class Properties with C class tenants.

For me personally, I would probably want to start getting really serious about outsourcing management around 30 units or more. I don't think it would be very easy to self manage this many while maintaining a full time job and normal life. You'll get a much better feel for how many that will be for you personally after you start. I promise, it's not as scary as you may think!

Hi Andrew,

While I am in a completely different area and market, I do believe I have some decent insight for you. 

The answer to your question is heavily dependent on multiple factors such as being a good manager of things generally speaking, how well you do your tenant screening, how comfortable you are with bookkeeping (if you are going to do it yourself), if you have a good selection of service providers in the area etc. 

In general I would say that if you are comfortable with bookkeeping, do a good job screening, you have a property in good condition, and you take the time to properly educate your tenant on communication and maintenance procedures, expectations of both parties, and responsibilities, you'll have no problem self managing 1 duplex on your own with very little time dedication.

Typically you will probably spend 15-20 min a month on bookkeeping and entering transactions, and that is about it. The things that will consume more of your time will be maintenance calls and/or coordination (these don't happen every month, especially in a good property with a good tenant), communications with tenants about lease renewals or violations, and of course evictions (hopefully you can avoid these of course). If you are doing maintenance yourself, it can be quite time consuming, and frustrating if you are a busy person with little handyman experience/capabilities. If you outsource your maintenance, the key will be having a good network of easy to deal with service people such as Handymen, Plumbers, Electricians etc. 

For tenant management, I use RentRedi and think it is very useful. It allows you to collect rent online via bank transfers which tenants can set up for automatic  payments. They can also submit maintenance requests through the app and include a short video and description, which you can the forward to the appropriate service provider to start the coordination to get the issue resolved. 

Lastly, if you want to be involved as little as possible, consider hiring property management and bookkeeping. This could end up being time consuming as well so be sure to interview and do heavy due diligence  on a property manager before hiring, I am speaking from experience! I am currently transitioning into self management of my small portfolio because I think I can run it better and dedicate less time to it by running it more efficiently eliminating many of the current problems I am facing. I am in a small market with limited options for management.

Hope this helps!

-Kole   

@Corina Eufinger Thanks so much for the heads up! I will definitely have to check into both of those. I am definitely interested in starting up some kind of meeting, probably in the Janesville area since I think it is pretty central to where I am likely to focus my investing. 

I the Janesville Apartment Association a meetup of apartment owners in the area? I have not heard of them, but it definitely sounds like something I'd be interested in attending!

Thanks again for the feedback! 

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to reach out to anyone in the southern Wisconsin area, specifically anyone around the Beloit or Janesville area. I am looking to connect with people in the area and possibly start a meet-up for once or twice a month. 

I am a young investor who lives in Beloit. I used to go to the meet-ups in Madison, but the drive got to be too much for me with my work schedule. I found myself becoming stagnant after purchasing my first couple rental properties, and want to connect with like minded people once again.

If anyone is interested in connecting, feel free to send me a message and maybe we can get a meet-up going in the future!

Thanks and look forward to chatting!

Kole

Correct, he is not currently an "employee", but I plan on getting him a payroll set up by January, that way he can right off the expense of labor, and he's doing things legitimately. Is that not the right move? 

Thank you all for the information and advice! 

To clarify, yes I mean "gross", I am just now getting involved, but I suspect his "net income" would have to be around 20k. He does not have another job outside of this, and he has one "employee". He is actually paying out labor in cash right now and does no bookkeeping at all. That is why I am getting involved at this point. Does he end up paying more in taxes because of the self employment tax than he would by being on a payroll, or does it come out to be the same?

Thanks again!

Hi all, I am looking for advice on how to help my dad out with getting his business going. I have set up a Single member LLC for him, and am wondering if I should put him on payroll with his other employee(s), what would be the best thing to do as far as taxes and accounting go? Right now this is a small operation (under 75K gross/year), but we are hoping to get it to grow. He does mainly decks and other exterior work, but does a little of everything.

Also, does anyone know of any resources or guides to learn how to categorize expenses and do bookkeeping for this type of business?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I am just looking for some advice from people who have been doing direct mail and taking phone calls. I am doing direct mail in search of properties to flip and/or hold as rentals. I have successfully bought a 4-Unit from one of my direct mail campaigns, but I still don't quite know what I am doing and would like to develop a more structured system and understanding on the steps I should be taking when taking calls. Here are a few things I am trying to figure out:

What information should I obtain from the first call?

What next? Surely you don't make an appointment to see every property that someone calls about, after I take the first call what are the next steps I should be taking?

What methods should I use to determine if the price of the house would be in the ballpark of what I would need it to be without seeing the house?

What information should I be obtaining from the second call?

Any information or guidance would be much appreciated!!

Thank You!

Kole Kingslien

Hi everyone,

I am just looking for some advice from people who have been doing direct mail and taking phone calls. I am doing direct mail in search of properties to flip and/or hold as rentals. I have successfully bought a 4-Unit from one of my direct mail campaigns, but I still don't quite know what I am doing and would like to develop a more structured system and understanding on the steps I should be taking when taking calls. Here are a few things I am trying to figure out:

What information should I obtain from the first call?

What next? Surely you don't make an appointment to see every property that someone calls about, after I take the first call what are the next steps I should be taking?

What methods should I use to determine if the price of the house would be in the ballpark of what I would need it to be without seeing the house?

What information should I be obtain from the second call?

Any information or guidance would be much appreciated!!

Thank You!