All Forum Posts by: Ryan Burton

Hello, my wife and I are partnering with another couple to BRRRR properties in Pittsburgh. I am looking for recommendations for a RE lawyer who can advise us on the type of entity(s) we should form and what sort of contract we should put in place.

Please let me know if you have any advice!

That's great info, thank you both! We are in the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Hello,

My wife and I recently bought a house in Seattle. We are living in the top half, and are just finishing up some work on the basement unit so we can rent it out. I am hoping for some advice, or links I can go to to learn more about creating a solid lease, and legally screening applicants.

Here is the order in which I plan to get these tasks done. Please let me know what I'm missing, or if I should go in a different order!

1) Come up with the minimum screening criteria (suggestions? Income must be 3x rent, minimum credit score, what else?)

2) Prepare a lease (any good templates for Seattle? I have a sample from a friend but I'm not confident it's fully compliant with Seattle regulations)

3) Advertise the space

I'm curious, how do other RE investors handle their accounting? Do you research the laws, depreciation methods, etc. yourself or pay someone to do it?

@Jim Goebel Thanks for your thoughts! I would say I am strong in those 3 areas as they pertain to my job, but I have no doubt that managing contractors is a whole different animal than managing my well-mannered accounting team.

Hi all!

I am new to real estate investing and looking to gain as much knowledge as I can. In addition to listening to the BP podcast and doing a lot of reading, I would like to learn from those who are further along than me.

I know that in order to build solid relationships, I need to show the value that I can bring to the table. After giving this some thought, I know that I can bring value through some of my biggest strengths: accounting and finance knowledge, along with the ability to learn whatever else comes my way. I am the head of the accounting and finance team at my company, and I know what it takes to build an efficient operation from the ground up. I am still learning the financial metrics and accounting principals of real estate, but I have found what I have come across so far to be interesting and easy to pick up.

So that being said, I have a few questions for those willing to give their input:

1. Have you found that having a stronger than average knowledge of real-estate specific accounting/tax is a valuable trait for someone in this industry? And if so, what are some of the best ways to learn that you've come across? Recommendations for books/courses/articles?
2. If you are an experienced investor, how does your accounting get done? It seems that most investors are knowledgeable about financial metrics, but I haven't heard much about the accounting side.

Thanks!