All Forum Posts by: Sergio Altomare

Thanks Nate Garrett! We've narrowed it down to PropertyWare and Buildium. The features of PropertyWare are certainly more compelling, but we are only managing 6 units right now, so it's coming down to cost. I talked to a sale guy at PropertyWare yesterday and he made me aware of some additional costs of modules that I would expect to be included in the base rate, like tenant and owner portals. I get that a web site would cost more, but I would think those items would be a basic element of using such a service. I'm waiting to talk to a regional sales person to get more specifics.

Thanks

Adam Gerig Following up on this topic, here is a great resource that shows a side by side comparison of some of the more popular products. Might be good to make this a sticky.

http://www.reviews.com/property-management-software/compare/

Adam Gerig Thanks much for the info, and thanks for the slap in the head...I totally forgot to search the forum for the question.

Thanks again!!

Hi everyone,

I'm on a quest to find a solid property management product to manage properties I own and those that me and my partner will be managing for investors. Here's a list of the products I'm looking at. Anyone have any good or bad experience with any of these, or can suggest something else?

Buildium RenTec PropertyWare AppFolio Rent Manager LandLord Max Trex Property Manager

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I've been looking for a good list of assets to track for depreciation and came across a decent one, so I thought I'd share it with the group. I plan on converting it into a spreadsheet for practical use, so I'll share that when it's done. Enjoy

http://www.trexglobal.com/assetlist.pdf

Bill Gulley, Steve Babiak Wow, becoming an investor/broker in PA seems like a nightmare! No wonder why so many people I know just buy properties in their own name or stick to flips.

I'm still getting up to speed with real estate taxonomy, so I will need some time to digest the info, but it sounds like the easiest (at least from a legal and tax standpoint) is to start the LLC first, then get the loan. I understand that this is going to be a commercial loan, so is it going to be a huge challenge to get, or just going to require dealing with less than optimal terms?

I don’t mind putting in the elbow grease to get this thing going, but I don’t want to have to try to explain to potential investors the creative ways around taxes. I want to operate this business on the up and up.

Anyone know of a good attorney to talk to for doing business in the Philly area?

Thank you all so much for your help, you guys are awesome!

Thanks a lot, Brandon!! This is very helpful - especially the recommendation on sticking my mug out there.

What you said makes sense. I do have a follow up question for you though. When putting a deal together with multiple individuals, do you find the lender and give he or her the names of your investors, or do you have to serve as the coordinator and get all of the documentation? I imagine it's not a problem when you are established, but I imagine there could be some reluctance in people giving all that personal information to you right off the bat.

Not that I'm not trustworthy, but my reputation is as a technologist, not real estate investor.

Also, do you have any suggestions on finding a decent lawyer in the area? What kind of fee structure should I look for?

My girlfriend's dad is a an attorney, with a good amount of real estate investing experience, but he is licensed in CA.

Thanks again for all your help!

Hi Everyone,

I asked a similar question to this the other day, but didn’t get any response so let me try and clarify it a bit.

My girlfriend and I are interested in starting a real estate investment company to buy rental properties. We have located 2 potential properties (besides 2 that are ours), both of which are duplexes. We have a number of friends and family who are interested in investing, but we can’t seem to get a good understanding on the best approach for making these types of deals happen. We expect to be able to raise at least 30% down on a $275k property. I have a call in to a lender, but have not gotten a call back yet. Because we already have one investment property together and are planning a second, we would be charging a nominal finder fee and providing the management of this new deal. Here’s what we’re confused about:

1) Should we shoot for establishing an LLC (or other type of partnership) first, and then get financing through it? If so, I imagine we need to get credit data, etc. of our investors? Would they do that directly with the lender, or do we have to do this? I'd rather not have to ask family and friends for personal information.
2) I understand that getting a loan through an LLC with no history is difficult, is this true?
3) Should we buy the property through a conventional loan and then moving it under an LLC or other business structure? How would we do this with multiple investors?
4) If we move a property purchased through an individual loan and then try to move it under an LLC, do we need to pay transfer tax? I’ve read yes and no, but looked through various PA and Philadelphia regs and can’t find an answer. Transfer tax in Philly is 3% and PA 1%, so this is a big impact of even considering this.

Any help that anyone can provide is much appreciated.

HI Everyone,

My girlfriend and I are slowly, but aggressively getting into the real estate investment business. She currently owns a 3 unit apt in Philly (owner occ), purchased in August of 2012, and we are looking into purchasing another together, and then put together a syndication on yet another multi-unit. The second property will either go in my name or an LLC name, depending on what I hear from our lender – or you fine folks suggest. It will ultimately go in one, but the order in which is happens is what I don't know. I currently own a twin, but am upside down on it. I have a steady job that pays in the low six figures, so I hope financing won't be a problem. We plan on putting at least 25% down on each deal.

Anyway, the syndication deal is to pool funds from a group of family and friends to buy a duplex. The one we are looking at is $280k with each unit bringing in $1200 a month. It also has a hug lot that is attractive for subdivision or future development. Taxes are $2450. For this property we are looking to get a finders fee and take care of the property mgt. We estimate that we can get at least 25% down from investors, but can go higher if needed.

My GF's dad is a CA attorney, but does not have experience with syndications in these parts. The questions that we have are with regard to securing the loan for the rest of the deal. Should we establish an LLC and use it to get the loan, or how else would it work? Whose name will be on it? We want to make sure that we put together a proposal that lets the investors sleep well at night. The goal will be to buy and hold for a minimum of 5 years, and then trade up, with new opportunities constantly being evaluated.

Let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks a lot for all your help
SA

P.S. While I cannot offer much in return on this topic, I can offer a lot of help in just about anything related to IT :-)