All Forum Posts by: Tiffani Hollis

I've never written a commercial lease and I don't want to do it wrong. Her husband is a residential realtor so she wrote the residential lease for me. The copy of the commercial lease I got from my Commercial Realtor Friend is 2x as long as much more complicated.

A Commercial Real Estate Broker friend gave me a copy of their standard commercial lease for Georgia. I've gone through it and made some edits but I am not an attorney and need one who can make it legal as well as add in a couple things that were not standard.  This isn't my regular attorney's wheelhouse so they declined and I need it turned around this week. Any recommendations? Thanks.

Thanks for the advice! 

This is my first major rehab and I'm trying to be creative about stretching my budget. It needs all new appliances. I see some great deals on FB Marketplace - Is it better to buy one used (obviously making sure it seems to work first) and pay for repairs later if necessary OR buy new and have the warranty? This is a property has been in the family a long time and I'll be holding onto long term as it turns a good profit.

Quote from @Daniel Kazakos:

Tiffani,

One thing people are not saying and they should is, Who does your Estate planning attorney recommend? When you are looking at a situation with generational family wealth you have  Attorneys, Certified Financial Planners, CPAs and other various professionals assisting you. Creating what some would call a "family office" for your wealth management activities (see the wikipedia source/picture). 

At the center of that office is your QB or most trusted advisor. This person or team of people help you identify other professionals to work with. Now, I know you asked about what should you ask about to a CPA but really you want someone that works within your own framework of professional services that you are paying for. The main thing to understand is are they providing the services in question themselves or are they being outsourced to other professionals. You don't want to pay for the markup but most importantly you want to speak to an expert and not someone that always as to ask someone else. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_office

I really appreciate everyone's advice. This was the answer I should have thought of myself though! I asked our estate attorney and she actually recommended the CPA that she uses personally and that my stepdad already uses and had recommended as well. I'm meeting with him next week to discuss and will take the other replies into consideration. Thanks!

I'm the trustee for my family's trust which includes several rental properties and we plan to do more investing and development.

I am looking for a CPA/Tax Accountant in Georgia. I've never hired one before. What should I ask?

I'm not living in that area anymore so I wouldn't want to speculate but I will say it is my opinion that if you are losing money (if you rent for the same as the mortgage payment, you are losing money) then it is not a good business venture and you shouldn't do it. So at a  minimum you need to be firm that the rent is enough to cover your expenses (including insurance, PM fee, capital reserves for repairs)

I'd go on Facebook Marketplace and on any Facebook Groups you find for KSU Housing and post it there (at a rent rate this is actually covering your expenses) and see if you get response. 


Quote from @Yoana Yordanova:

@Tiffani Hollis yes, we are open to students. We have wonderful neighbors and we get a long with them well. We were trusting the PM with finding the renters/applicants. Even if we have to rent it by the room, we are not opposed to it.

What would be your comment on the monthly rent? Is it listed at the correct price, does it need to be lower, or can it be higher?

I'm familiar with that Market - having lived there for 20 years until recently. Your PMC is not marketing it effectively likely. You are very Close to KSU and not that far from the Southern Poly Campus of KSU.  If you modify your requirements to be flexible in the case of students and market it to students, their parents will cosign and likely be paying anyway.  You could rent it by the room and list the rent as half - I'm seeing that done a lot in college towns. I live in Savannah now and a lot of rentals are marketed that way.

I lived in a townhome community not far from there. My neighbors were 4 KSU students. They were actually very good neighbors. Polite and their very rare parties were not wild - no noise complaints or anything. I know some people might be hesitant with students but Id take a chance with parental liability. Especially if you are friendly with your old neighbors in that they'd report anything off to you.

Quote from @V.G Jason:

What areas of Savannah do you have the properties?

 Tybee and Garden City

My family recently inherited several rental properties. I'm new to real estate and looking to grow my network so I can learn to manage and grow our portfolio.