All Forum Posts by: Ned Marz

 What separate PM software are you using to compliment Baselane?  I am using Baselane and looking for that missing piece

Looking for an easy solution that allows for electronic tenant screening, lease signing, and document storage. I want to be able to send and receive customized docs and signatures in a secure and simple way for remote onboarding of tenants without ever having to wait for the mail or printing out multiple copies again.

Currently using Baselane for banking, rent collection, and bookkeeping but it falls short on the tenant record features at the moment.  Other platforms like RentRedi are so overloaded with features and require additional subscriptions that I gave up on it --- Baselane was simple as hell and did those things better IMO but is missing some core pieces.

What platforms do you love for the above items? Bonus points if it also is great for maintenance requests and managing current tenant communications. Main priority is the screening/lease/onboarding and the occasional letter I might want to store for recordkeeping.

Hey all, 

Recently bought a 3family in my home state of NY and am choosing to do most of the management on my own to cut my teeth and learn what I don't know before I outsource it in the future.  I am working with an attorney but I dont want to bug him with all of my learning questions.  Figured I would throw a couple here :).

#1 -- I see NY has a maximum allowed application fee of just $20.  I don't care about the fee for my time but most good background checks and credit checks are closer to $40-50 and I want the applicant to pay for those.  If I have the reporting agency direct bill to the applicant but also allow the applicant to use any other site they want as long as it provides me with the correct info, does that still fall under the $20 restriction or is that a sufficient workaround?  (Let's ignore the possibility of them falsifying reports for the sake of the question)

#2 -- I have a tenant Application I want to use that I will run past my attorney, but I have some prescreening questions below that I want to email to anyone who shows interest in the unit.  Most of these are picked up from other posts/websites during my research.  Does anyone see any problematic wording for NY specifically?  For example, I heard there might be some limitations on how we use criminal history but haven't seen anything concrete on that.

PRESCREEN EMAIL__________________________

Please complete these Prescreen Questions. If chosen to move forward, you will complete a full application which must include a criminal background and credit check (approximately $45).

1.  Please provide the following for each Applicant (include co-signers if applicable)
   1. Name, current address, phone # 
   2. Current Occupation & length of time employed.
   3. Monthly gross (before-tax) verifiable income 
   4. How many evictions have been filed against you?
   5. What will show on a criminal background check? <-- this legal to ask?
   6. Describe your credit score and any bankruptcies that will show on your record 
2.  Pet names + type/breed (list all)
3.  How many people will be living in your apartment in total?
4.  Is anyone who will be living with you a smoker? If yes, do they ever smoke inside?
5.  How much money do all applicants have saved, in total?
6.  What may interrupt your ability to pay your rent?
7.  Requested move-in date:

Appreciate any feedback from my fellow New Yorkers or anyone familiar with us.  Thank you!

@Mohammed Rahman and @Jordan B. I appreciate you for sharing your thoughts on this deal as you guys are pretty familiar with the market here. It feels like the property does have really nice rental income with a potential for it to go a little higher but I do agree that its not the best on paper with nearly a 0% COC return after all expenses are paid, including cost of borrowed money/HELOC payments. I do factor in a $340/mo. (7.5%) vacancy rate into that though which does mean I would be a few hundred positive per month as I would technically be collecting that to build up my reserves.

After sitting on it for a few days, believe it or not, I am still considering this deal though. I cant exactly say why except that I think in 5 years I will look back on this and kick myself for not doing it even though the short-term numbers are really weak. I still have access to a good chunk of a HELOC in case something terrible happens and I have a hard money lender who I can lean on if a cheap deal comes up.. but those don't really exist around here unless I want to deal with squatters and buying sight-unseen.

The house in question is more of the safe-play for me since I am okay slow-playing into the real estate game... for now!  And of course its only Monday and my thoughts might change again by Wednesday.  I will let you all know if I go into contract though.

Been listening to the podcast a ton and figured I would give the forums a whirl.  

Background: I own a separate, successful business and I am looking to diversify and also get some tax benefits from rentals. I grew up around house flipping, am very handy, and feel very comfortable becoming a landlord.  I tend to be a conservative estimator though and I need some thoughts on if I should dive into a deal I am working on or if its a trap worth avoiding.

The house: I am looking into buying my first rental that is a multi-family home with 3 units and only needs minimal cosmetic rehab.  I would likely get it at current market value offer (lower than asking but what I think is fair for the asset).  I was hoping for a distressed property that I could rehab/refi to get my downpayment back out but this house is mostly turnkey.  Its on a busy road which I feel will slow the appreciation of the home but it has a nice sized yard (something I can hopefully monetize at some point) in an otherwise tightly packed suburb and it is not a bad area to live in (not affluent but not impoverished).  Having 3 units is also a bonus because most are illegal 2's or use the basement as a 3rd (which I want to avoid -- this one uses a converted garage space).  Units are all metered for separate utilities which is also a benefit.  The house is pretty turnkey and checks the boxes for what I am looking for.  All units are currently rented and paying.

Now for the numbers: The NOI is about $30k annually and I am calculating a cap rate of around 5.7%. I have access about 10% of the deal in cash but would need to do the other 90% with a (hopefully traditional) mortgage + a healthy HELOC that would still have reserves if I get into a pinch. (This deal would not impact my household's personal savings / emergency fund)

Cash on cash, I am looking at very close to a $0/month cash flow (possibly -$100 to +100 depending on a few variables) since I am financing/borrowing so much of the deal. There is a possibility for a little rent increase and monetizing the yard for maybe a commercial truck to park. IRR calculators which I assume factors in equity shows a 12.23% over 20 years on the calculator. Also shows a total profit if sold in 25 years close to $1mil or about 1,310% cash on cash.

My biggest concern (and where I could use some advice) is getting into my first rental deal that locks up my cash, cuts my HELOC in half, and leaves me tight on month to month to stay positive cash-wise at first. This investment is a buy and hold strategy but has a terrible up front ROI on the downpayment so I would be working as a landlord for pennies. Long-term and for tax purposes, its amazing though and no rehab headaches up front.... but does the opportunity cost come too high with locking up my warchest in this deal and missing out on others with better #s? Should I continue to look for a distressed property that has more built in equity potential (but may come with its own issues)? Or is this a unicorn because it essentially will pay for itsself and just needs to be managed?

Sorry for the long post - I hopefully gave enough to be a little case study for you guys!  Any pro-tips and advice is graciously welcomed.