All Forum Posts by: Mike Levene

Relay is a solid option for personal or general bookkeeping, but doesn't help much when it comes to rental properties. For your rentals, I'd encourage you to strive to separate your personal finances from your business (rental) finances. Not only will this help build financial accountability and make tax season much simpler, but you should treat your rentals like what they are...a business.

When it comes to Baselane vs. Stessa, Baselane seems to offer a lot more functionality without the monthly subscription. It has everything you'd expect from a modern day tool including automated rent collection and late fees, tenants screening, bookkeeping, reporting, and tax prep. On top of that, they have top tier banking features specifically for landlords. I love being able to create new virtual accounts with a single click to separate security deposits for each of my tenants. 

I've been using Baselane for about a year now and I love it!

I use it to manage 2 LTR and 1 MTR from rent collection to bookkeeping, tenant screening to tax prep. I really appreciate that they've carefully thought through the experience for both the landlord and the tenant. 

For example, as a landlord, if I collect rent right into my Baselane bank account (which is a no brainer), I don't have to pay any fees to collect rent. Similarly, as a tenant, if they pay with ACH, they don't have to pay any fees either. 

For bookkeeping, you can assign credit cards and bank accounts to automatically tag transactions. This, plus the little notification of transactions that have not been tagged yet are an absolute game changer for me staying up to date on bookkeeping and being able to confidently do it myself.

Regarding the tenant screening, its a fantastic way to manage tenants from start to end all within Baselane. This let me consolidate from 3 separate tools for managing my properties down to just one. I can now manage the process from tenant screening, lease signing, and security deposit collection all the way to lease termination and returning security deposits.

Overall, I think they're setting the new normal for what a landlord should expect from a property management tool.

Hi @Chris Rojas

I started exactly the same way (with a triplex not a duplex but not important). 

First, congratulations it sounds like your first deal is going well and is hitting your targets for cash flow, renovation timing, and hopefully budget. 

When looking to buy your second property, there are of course synergies to use the same local bank, however, there is nothing that requires you to use the same bank. You will likely find that some banks are much more favorable to lending to primary homeowners, while some may lean towards investors. 

It sounds like your current bank might be hesitant to provide a loan for the next property until you can prove that the current property provides enough income to support your overall DTI (Debt to Income Ratio). The easiest way to prove this is to have a lease in place with a tenant. You mentioned you seem to think this is a new regulation across big lenders, but aren't you working with a local bank?

Have you spoken to multiple banks and loan officers about your situation. I think it is a very broad statement to say it is riskier and harder to get approved for a triplex vs. a duplex. Ultimately, it comes down to underwriting and the ability for the property, and you, to afford to pay the monthly expense of the loan. 

If I were in your shoes (which I was recently, and will be again when I move to the next property), I would call up 10 different lenders including small banks, credit unions, etc. and tell them your situation, what you are trying to do, and how they might be able to provide a product to support you. 

Lastly, you mentioned this is a BRRRR but you plan to cash flow "like crazy" after renting it. If it truly is a BRRRR you would plan to refinance the property to pull out some capital, and then likely use that for your next deal. Totally ok if you don't plan to take any capital out as interest rates are likely higher than your original loan, and it sounds like the deal will cash flow, but just wanted to point that out so you are speaking the same language.

As the landlord, you can dictate how you collect rent. Typically this is outlined in your lease. I would strongly advise against using an app that the tenant picked, especially considering they are only willing to make partial payments.

I use a trusted property management tool to collect rent and I never allow partial payments. Either the tenant pays in full on time, or it is late and late fees apply. This also helps down the road in case you ever need to do an eviction.

Using a trusted tool to collect rent can help automate the rent collection and ease the burden on both the landlord and the tenant. From the landlord perspective, you set up the rent amount, the due date, and then the tool will send automatic reminders to the tenant ahead of each due date. If payment is late, it will automatically apply the late fee structure you have set up.

From the tenant side, they will get reminders that their rent is coming due with a link to pay rent. They can pay with debit/credit card, or link their bank account and do ACH. If the tenant has already made payments in the past, this can be as simple as just 2-3 clicks.

With a tool like this, you don't need to manually follow up with tenants, collect checks and hope they don't bounce, show up to your property to collect cash, etc. It also helps you keep a very clear trail of when rent was paid, if it was paid on time, and track the history of payments. 

Lastly these tools can integrate directly into your bookkeeping so you can automate the income portion of your bookkeeping which will help with your analytics/reporting and save you tons of time during tax season. 

Has anyone used a general contractor in the west Michigan area that is willing to give a quote for price per sq ft or a range of price per sq ft for a full gut remodel? For context, this would be for a property I already own.

I understand this may be a bit unconventional and people will likely recommend I get a proper quote and have the contractor do a full walkthrough. For a variety of reasons, including keeping this potential project "need-to-know" only right now, I want to get a ballpark estimate with full understanding that the goal posts could move in either direction as the project gets more discrete. 

Any referrals for contractors in the Grand Rapids area would be fantastic!

So far this is looking like a great option for my situation but I've never done one before. Just curious, what is a typical LTV I can draw up to with a HELOC on primary and investment property? Around 80%? I'm sure some local banks will do higher especially with a strong relationship but don't think I will fall into that category.

I currently own 3 units and looking to add to my portfolio in late spring/early summer of 2025. I'll be in the market for a duplex/triplex in the $400k range that I will owner occupy and use a 5% down loan. I have some of the required funds in a HYSA, but will most likely need to draw from another account and I'm curious which method is the most efficient in terms of taxes/capital gains, penalties, loan repayments, etc.

Based on my previous transactions in the market, I estimate ~$45k cash to close: $20k for the down payment, $15k for closing costs and prepaids, and $10k of starting reserves. I have gotten a seller's credit for my 3 existing units but to be conservative, I will assume I am paying full closing costs here.

At the moment, I have ~$25k in a HYSA and expect to save another $10k from my W-2 before I start putting offers in. That means I have roughly enough for cash to close, but no reserves left over. FYI I do have plenty of reserves for my other units already, but would like to keep each property separate.

My question is, where should I draw funds from to pay the least amount in penalties, taxes, loan interest, etc. from the following sources I have available:

- 20 year 401k loan for a property
- Sell a piece of my stock portfolio at 15% capital gains tax
- Take a HELOC against an existing property
- Private money loan from a trusted partner I have worked with before

Alternatively, I could pool the reserves for all my properties to ensure I can cover anything immediate and know that I could always sell off a piece of my stock portfolio if needed and have the funds within 3 business days or set up a HELOC and only draw from it if needed.

Appreciate any thoughts or what you have done in the past.

I've been using Baselane for a while now and just saw this feature roll out. I didn't think much of it but just signed a tenant that was thrilled to have this feature available. From a landlord perspective, its great to be able to provide these simple services/amenities at no cost to us, yet empower the tenant to enroll in programs like this.

I use Baselane and know many people that use both Baselane and Stessa. My personal experience is that Baselane has all of the needed features to manage LTR and STRs and also comes without the cost. The banking features are truly unique and best in class. I haven't seen another PM tool do what they do with the virtual accounts, simple transfers, savings and checking accounts, etc. It truly lets you be an asset manager, not just a property manager. I actually have some friends that use Stessa or other tools to do the lease signing, etc. because that is what they are used to, but choose to do rent collection and all of their transaction management in Baselane because it is so user friendly and really prepares you for reporting and tax season. Personally, not having an app isn't a big deal as I do all of my PM work on my laptop anyways. 

I'm a big fan of my current tool called Baselane. Its super easy to setup and use, but it still comes packed full of great features and automation to prepare for tax season, but also for rent collection, transaction management, and so much more. I manage 2 LTR and 1 MTR using only Baselane which makes it so convenient to streamline my processes. Specifically for taxes, its pretty straight forward with Baselane because you can tag all of your transactions with the pre defined categories for a Schedule E (the tax form you submit for rental property). The best part is that its a free tool unlike many of the tax softwares out there. Once I realized I could do tax prep, automate rent collection, manage transactions, set up multiple bank accounts with a single click, etc. I don't think I could manage my properties without Baselane.