Bought my first Property. Whats do I do next?

Question

Hello all, I am new to the bigger pocket forums but have been a listener of the podcasts for some time now. I recently purchased my first rental property which is a triplex in the Granite City Illinois area, a small suburb outside of st louis MO but on the illinois side. I purchased the triplex already fully rented and inherited a management company who I decided to keep on for the first 6 months since this is my first rental property and i also have a lot of other stuff I am taking on as well including trying to get moved into my own first home. I am looking for advice on how to get setup and organized with everything in regards to the financials and managment of the property. I already setup a separate bank account to use for the property, but what other tools does everyone use to stay organized with all of the finances associated with your rentals? I am also hoping to fully take over managing the property when the 6 month contract with the management company is up. Can anyone give me advice on things to do or get setup to be ready to easily take over managing the property. I am also not sure how to go about notifying the tenants of the ownership change and what method to use for rent collection and how to direct them to a new way of paying rent.  Should I use an online service or ask them to send checks or what? What are some of the methods everyone recommends for rent collection and how would you suggest notifying the tenants when the time comes to have them change the way they are paying rent? Thanks in advance for your help everyone!

Austin Gaines · Answer

@Morgan Gruelle I have a triplex in Granite City as well. I've been using Cozy to screen tenants and collect rents. I'm happy with the service so far.

Brant Richardson · Answer

Do you live in the Granite City area or are you going to manage from a remote location?

Now would be a good time to start going to local REIA meetings to network with guys like Austin Gaines to find out who is their plumber, electrician, painter, handyman, gardener, appliance repair, HVAC etc.  Have those names and numbers before you need them.

Morgan Gruelle · Answer

@Rob B. Definitely would love to hear some recommendations. I am happy to entertain any tools that you think will make this process easier and more organized.

@Austin Gaines thats awesome! Where is your triplex? I was hoping to connect with some other landlords in the Granite City/St.Louis area. I would love to talk with you some time about your experiences in the market in our area, and any advice you can offer in regards to that since we are in the same area.

Morgan Gruelle · Answer

can anyone point me to a good spreadsheet for tracking expenses? I started one but I have already had to spend on maintenance for a couple minor things ( lawncare, broken garbage disposal)  and I would really like to have a spot on my spreadsheet where I can make notes about what an expense amount was for.

Morgan Gruelle · Answer

@Anthony Angotti oh ya im already big into the sign up bonuses. I dont have a lot of options left in that realm for sign up bonuses. Amex ones are my choice for bonuses and stuff. I was wanting to do a business card with them next. If im able to use the annual fee as a business expense then I am gonna do it but ill need to wait until i have a big enough expense lined up to hit the bonus on one of them before i pull the trigger on that.

Anthony Angotti · Answer

@Morgan Gruelle you can always get a card with no fee.

It can be a personal card like that. Doesn't NEED to be a business card.

I like the  big sign up bonus cards though because if you spend the minimum amount you can get a lot of money. It's pretty easy to hit that with RE expenses. Those cards usually have a yearly fee though so it's a balance.

Morgan Gruelle · Answer

@Anthony Angotti I was thinking about getting a business credit card for the place actually but i wasnt sure if that would be a good idea yet or not since i only have the one property. I didnt really wanna pay an annual fee for it just yet, but I think you can write off the annaul fee as a business expense right?

Morgan Gruelle · Answer

@Brant Richardson I just live down the street. Good idea. I am already needing that stuff actually.

Anthony Angotti · Answer

@Morgan Gruelle

My advice is to check your local community college or online courses. Often times there are basic level property management classes. That's what I did before my first one and it was SUPER beneficial. We received a lease, application docs, and everything we needed. More importantly we learned how each clause worked and what we can do.

For rent collection Cozy works well. I would send them a letter, call them, and post notice (if you are local). Changing over payment methods is always a pain in the butt. That being said your management company should be able to forward you whatever payments they do get.

Accounting wise my recommendation is to get one credit card for the property. You can build up rewards and all the expenses will be in one place. At the end of each month you can download the statement and categorize appropriately in a spreadsheet. Eventually when you have more you can get some sort of accounting software, but this worked really well for me.

Rob B. · Answer

Just DM'd you! Let me know if you have any other questions and I'd be happy to get those answered for you. @Morgan Gruelle

Bought my first Property. Whats do I do next?

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