All Forum Posts by: Oscar Perez

Hell all!

Made the switch to QuickBooks Pro from spreadsheets this year and am trying to find out the most efficient way to handle the monthly workflow.

Here is my first question.  For properties managed with a property management company, would you still create invoices in QB even though they will not be sent out, or should this be bypassed and just record the deposits when the management company sends the statements?

What are the pros and cons of each?

Oscar

My 2 cents is to use Quickbooks.  Yes, its quite a bit of a learning curve, but its the business standard and learning it will make you a better business person.  I started out with spreadsheets and after many years am now making the switch.

However, It also depends on what your goal is.  If you never plan on having many properties, then a simple spreadsheet will suffice (KISS principle) 

Happy Investing!

Back in town and all settled into the great city of Houston!  Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Oscar

The best asset protection there is being a proactive landlord. I highly recommend reading "Lawyers Are Liars" by Mark Kohler.

That being said, a simple LLC and an umbrella policy is what I see most people using.

Already scheduled. I want to get that magazine cover autographed ;-)

Once again, great time at the meet up! Thanks to Brian and Charles for putting this together. Its starting to get crowded. Soon we'll have to rent out a hall!

Oscar

Here is my extensive list. You weren't specific on what you were asking so I included everything that a small business real estate investor might use.

Buildium

For managing properties

Excel

For analyzing deals and all sorts of neat stuff!

Word

Come on now, everyone needs it!

Evernote

To track all to dos and capture everything! This one is a must. Integrate it with the GTD system and you'll be in productivity heaven!

SnagIT

Easy way to take screenshots and add to your e-mails or other documents

Quickbooks Premier

You gotta step up at some point and make the switch to QB from Excel or something else. Slight learning curve, but once you master it, you'll soon ask why you didn't use it sooner

Xmind

Very powerful and inexpensive mind mapping software. Comes in handy when you need to map out some ideas.

Skype

Premium version so you can host video conference calls with your investors

Basecamp

Great online project management tool and a good price. Also look at Wrike, a bit more expensive but has some additional features.

Highrise

Great online tool for CRM

RoboForm

Great password management tool. Makes logging onto websites easy!

Teamviewer

Allows you to remote into workstations.

I'm sure there are a ton more. Love to hear what others are using.

Count me in! The last meet-up was awesome. Met a lot of great people. Thanks for making me feel welcome in the great city of Houston.

One suggestion, how about we borrow a page from Napoleon Hills book and add a few topics to brainstorm?

Oscar

Find a real estate investor or turn-key provider in your area (BiggerPockets is a good place to start) and ask them if you can intern for them to learn the ropes.

Possibly look at condos as a starting point to buy with your funds.

I may be wrong as I've never structured these deals, but lets get the thread going. It doesn't seem your bringing on a partner but rather an investor. A partner would have a stake in the equity of the deal. What your describing seems to be finding an investor to loan the LLC 500K @ 8% for 5 years. They would have second position on the deal. The bank ponying up the 1.5MM would have 1st position. If you can find investors to do a loan like this for 8%, jump on it. Most hard money loans I'm seeing are 12%.
If you can structure this deal, then you have in essence did an zero down deal.