All Forum Posts by: Michael D.

Can anybody suggest some good software for tracking the performance of my real estate investments?

I'd like to be able to keep track of the buildings, units, tenants, income, expenses, etc. I'd like it to be geared toward the investor, rather than the manager.

I have one new LLC that I formed Jan 1 of last year, registered in PA. I am the only member of the LLC. The LLC owns one SFR and one 9-unit. The 9-unit has a mortgage.

Are you available for a quick chat today or over this weekend?

Not particularly. I live in CA and have never been to PA.

Now that you mention it, I suppose that the CPA doesn't even have to be in PA, I just want someone who knows the law there.

Do any of you have a referral for a CPA in PA who might be willing to do my very simple LLC taxes for 2011?

I learned a valuable lesson recently - trust but verify.

But first, the question:
I have a 9-unit building in Millvale (Pittsburgh), PA. It has 3 separate addresses, each of which has a master water meter. Sewer and Garbage are billed with the water, for a total of $200/mo for each address or $600/mo total. Water, garbage and sewer each make up roughly 1/3 of the bill. As it stands I pay the whole thing and don't pass any on to the tenants.

Should I attempt to break these out into separate meters? I like the idea in principal that each tenant pays their own, but if I have to lower the rent an equivalent amount I might not gain much.

What do you think?

And now the lesson:
During the transaction I questioned a reported $6000/yr in utility expenses that the seller was reporting to me. He claimed they were much higher than usual, and that the "water" bill was less than $300/mo. Needless to say, that was a big mis-statement. I should have asked to see the bills, where I would have seen the truth.

"... and then from your LLC to your personal interest."

That's exactly the part I'm concerned with. What's the hard link there? The only public document I know of doesn't show my name - it shows some other guy who happened to be my attorney at the time. (Don't get me wrong, I trust the guy, but I want to understand the principle)

Well, kinda. Assuming that I know when it happens. What if I die without telling my loved ones anything about the property?

I guess I'm just struggling with the fact that there doesn't seem to be a lot of tangible connection between me and my property.

The thing that brought this to mind for me was that on the LLC application my attorney is listed, but nothing about me. I wondered if it would be possible for him to later claim my stuff.

Let me try asking it a different way:

Suppose that somebody tried to sell my property to somebody else without my knowing about it. The title company would look and see that it's owned by ACME LLC (my real LLC). Further suppose that the dirty "seller" produces an operating agreement with their name on it along with ACME LLC.

How does the title company see that this person is wrong? Please assume that I - as the rightful owner of the LLC - have no idea at any point that this is taking place.

I guess what I'm getting at is this:
With Real Estate ownership it's very straightforward. There is a public document that says "Owned by XYZ. If you aren't XYZ, you can't have it."
I'm trying to find something like that for LLC ownership.

What if I die - for example - and I haven't told my family about the business. It continues running itself for a year or two, but then needs attention or the cash is just building up in the account. How and at what point would my family ever know about it?

I've got an operating agreement, but that's not a publicly recorded document. I've got a copy and my attorney has a copy - but who's to say we didn't just make those up to steal somebody else's LLC?

The application just has my attorney listed as the organizer. My name isn't on it.