All Forum Posts by: Rick Santasiere

I do for a few reasons.  First, listing all my properties as line items with their value gives me a fairly accurate snapshot of the total of my holdings. Second, listing net worth does give me a sense of accomplishment each month (like getting an investment statement in the mail when your portfolio has increased).

Some other benefits are completely psychological.. For instance, we all go through the dredges where we hate our debt load and get all worried about paying our bills (at least most investors do..). Seeing that ## increase every month because someone else is paying the debt off reminds me regularly that I am improving from prior months. I try not to let my ego get me into trouble, so I really don't think I am "all that" from this net worth figure.  I simply like that I am building a future for my, my family, and maybe create a legacy for my children.  My $.02

Thank you all, I just realized that I received multiple responses after my last post :-)

Makes a little better sense now.  

Thanks for your response Steve. While I hate increasing expenses, at this point, I already have separate LLC's set up with Insurance policies as umbrella policy, so it makes sense to keep as is. Just wondering if anyone had the similar experience that I have, then someone who might have the opposite (someone who holds one LLC with all props under their one LLC) Would be excellent to hear from someone with both types.

My attorney advised me several years ago to set up LLC's for each one of my rental properties to limit my liability in the event of being sued for any reason. It made sense to me that basically the tenant can only go after the "asset" within that one LLC (or that one property), as opposed to coming after my personal assets inside my family (ie. my home, cars, retirement accounts, etc..)

One concern I have is that every time I do this it costs $200 or so to set it up, then I need all separate bank accounts, followed with with a fee for $250 each every two years for business entity tax. While I do not have a huge portfolio (and consider myself to be fairly inexperienced in the gran scheme), I do hold 6 properties. At $250 each, it's a pretty big hit. Does one LLC having all properties rolled up underneath make sense, or would this increase my liability for being sued for ALL the assets under the LLC?

Does anyone have this experience?  Are there pro's / con's to each?  I want to decrease my expenses for sure, but also want to limit my exposure just in case something happens down he road at one of the props.  Thank you in advance BP colleagues for your knowledge, experience, and of course your time in assisting me make better decisions for my business in the years to come.

Rick

Hi Eric,

I am a small town Real Estate Broker who also does Property Management for some investors out of CT, and I was shocked at your experience.  As a PM, I charge 10% of gross rent (including late payments).  Inclusive of that 10% is typically all what you mentioned above for extra.  There are times where I charge a fee to fill a vacancy, but if I am representing someone with multiple units, I usually do not charge anything.  For instance, I represent someone who has 6 units who I charge nothing to for filling the vacancy because of the volume of rent and amount I make.

I can tell you that I refunded an owner in June for my "fee" because we had a month of vacancy in between tenants (which I rarely have to do).  Feel free to reach out to me directly with any other thoughts as I am a property manager on a smaller level and would be fine sharing my experience with you!!  www.santa-realty.com

Looking for an "odd jobs" kinda guy to do yard cleanups, minor repairs, some masonry work, and mostly un-skilled labor.  I have two multi family units I manager (for an out of state investor).  Any referrals/recommendations would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!!

thanks all 😊

Hello,

My name is Rick Santasiere, and I got into real estate as a realtor in 2006, probably the worst year to get it.  I enjoyed it, but enjoyed the thought of real estate investment even more, but just didn't know where to start.  I sure wish there was a BP back then!!  Long story short, I excelled as a part time realtor and did more transactions than any other new agent in the office.  After several years though, it became apparent that I didn't need the "Big Box" Real Estate Brokerage any more and I have never realyl been a big fan off too many rules.

In 2011 I decided to get my Brokers License.  With one day left to spare in 2011, I got it!! The birth of Santa Realty on January 1, 2012 was celebrated.  That first year we did pretty well and closed enough real estate deals to offset the increase in business.  We also are Property Managers, and manage several properties throughout CT for out of state owners who left to pursue greater opportunities.  My thought was that I can manage my own portfolio, why not help others do the same.  I truly enjoy helping people find homes, and have never been much of a high volume guy.  Not because I don't like success, but I have found that I tend to focus on fewer clients at a time so that I can be more attentive.  I also like spending time researching investment property for myself.

I have 5 single family homes, and one multi family home.  My favorite property would be the multi family because it the one that I have the most time and sweat equity in.  We did a full gut on it and replaced everything to the studs.  Made a ton of mistakes, but I learned from them all!!! It is a decent income producer.  I joined BP in August of 2015 on a recommendation of one of the people I manage property for out of Bristol (go figure!!) He got so excited about BP and shared with me, I had to check it out for myself.  I am definitely looking to learn, help, and digest all I can while I am here.  I still consider myself a "new investor," even though I started buying properties over 5 years ago.  I continue to learn daily, and want to continue to expand my portfolio, my property management business, as well as my real estate brokerage in CT and MA. Please introduce yourself!! I look forward to connecting with as many people as I can!

Any people in Hartford, CT area looking to network and learn?  I have 6 units, and looking to expand.  I also run a small real estate outfit and very new to BP.  Just looking to network.

Rick