All Forum Posts by: Bonnie Low

Furnished Finder is evolving away from being solely focused on travel nurse housing, but it's still the leader in this space overall. Check out their stats page on Wichita so you can see who is searching, how many units are available, pricing and then do a property search to see what the competition looks like and how full their calendars are. 

https://www.furnishedfinder.com/stats?ci=Wichita&st=Kans...

 Very solid advice. Don't go cheap overall. Invest in good quality, durable key pieces like beds and couches. Avoid most IKEA products (though I do have a couple of bookshelves that have stood the test of time). And outdoor amenities will really help your listing standout.

If you have the ability to do it now, do it. I completely disagree that able bodied people are "turned off" by these amenities and if they are, how sad is that. Nowadays, design is so advanced you'd often not even know it's built to be accessible. That said, there is a considerable lack of accessible properties everywhere and there definitely IS demand. I have a vacation rental in North Carolina and I'd say at least once a month I get asked by someone looking to book whether or not it's accessible. And while it's not currently, this is something my husband and I had talked about doing and were planning to do before (ironically and sadly) he got very, very ill. After he became completely paralyzed, I found myself wondering if we'd ever be able to use our own vacation home because it wasn't accessible for him and it made me realize just how limited and unwelcoming the world is for people with disabilities. In the midterm rental community, it is regularly discussed how frequently people inquire about accessible properties, particularly in the highest end insurance placement niche where there is, indeed, a price premium on accessible properties. Personally, I'm sick of the "what's in it for me" mentality. You can be a business minded person and someone who wants to provide opportunity for others. The two can and should co-exist. It sounds like you're at a point in your project where you could make these modifications in a cost effective manner. I commend you for considering that. While few people will ever tell you they passed on renting your property because they didn't like the accessibility features, you'll know for sure when someone doesn't rent it because of the lack of these features.

I've looked all over Ohio and am finding true cash flowing properties scarce. Sure you can get relatively cheap properties in Toledo and Cleveland, but at today's interest rates they'll be difficult to cash flow despite what your analysis shows on paper. Older, cheaper properties in C & D class neighborhoods are notorious money pits. Maintenance, repairs and turnover eat up the slim cash flow and then some. Of course, if you can buy at a steep discount, get favorable interest rates and put a lot more down, you can make almost anything cash flow. I'm not negative on these areas. But using a HELOC is a risk because a) the liability is against your primary residence and b) current interest rates on HELOCs, which typically adjust after the initial term, are anywhere from 8-12%. You'd have to be assured your return is greater than that just to cover you HELOC payment. If I was going to use a HELOC for investing (which I've done several times), I'd buy a vacation rental or multi-family in a B class neighborhood.

I love the San Juan mountains but I don't know if you can get something in your price range. I have a cabin in western NC and love it but it is humid in the summer. Probably less so up towards Banner Elk and Beech Mountain. I'm not seeing any of the Western NC markets except Asheville itself be hotspots for MTRs, though. And Buncombe County (Asheville) is on the verge or may have already banned STRs. There are a lot of under the radar markets around the Great Lakes. Have you looked there?

 It depends on what you mean by tenant tracking. Are you talking about the vetting and lease up process or do you mean keeping track of tenant payments and security deposits? I use a combination of tools. I just haven't found one yet that does everything I need it to. For vetting and lease up I use Keycheck or TransUnion. They're very similar. For lease creation I use Avail. I've used Rocket Lawyer but don't find it as user friendly or as easy to edit so I prefer Avail. For receiving security deposits, tracking & receiving rent payments I use Baselane. I love Baselane's "Amazon-like" tracking feature where I can see when a payment is initiated, when it's process and when it's received. It's a super clean interface and leaves no doubt as to the status of payment.

Hi, Nelisa. I have a small portfolio of LTRs, MTRs and one STR. Until about a year ago we were using a bookkeeper to manage our books in quickbooks. It was just too cumbersome for us to do ourselves. I had wanted to find something simpler for a long time. I also needed to set up some bank accounts for our LLCs so in the process of doing that I ran across Baselane, which is a banking and bookkeeping platform. I had looked at some others but I ended up going with Baselane because it gave me the combination of banking, bookkeeping and tenant management I was looking for. I'm very happy for it and (bonus!) I was able to let our bookkeeper go, saving over $500/mo in the process!

 You're very welcome! I truly believe one of the best way we can add value to others is by sharing our trusted networks ; )

You're very welcome

In my opinion, this largely comes down to how you or your parents will be filing your taxes. Assuming one of you will be claiming this as business income, you should have a separate business bank account and here's the relatively short answer why. 

If you're declaring the income, you also want to be able to declare the expenses and depreciation. Since you are taking on additional liability having tenants in place, you're probably going to want to update your insurance policy and put some sort of asset protection in place - most people use an LLC for a small portfolio. If you set up an LLC - or any business for that matter - it's imperative that you keep personal and business finances separate. In the case of the LLC, if you commingle funds, you essentially wipe out the asset protection of the LLC. And, as others have mentioned, I believe in most, if not all states, you're required to hold security deposits in a separate bank account. So for all these reasons, I'd set up a separate bank account.

As @Allen Duan mentioned, it can be tough to get traction with insurance placement companies if you only have one property but that shouldn't stop you from listing with them anyway. It's a good use of your time and you want to be in their databases. I also recommend you look for someone in your area who is brokering properties for insurance placement companies. I know we have several of these companies on the west coast and I'm sure you have some in CO as well. I know Craftsman Homes is doing this in CA but am not sure how far their reach is. Perhaps Erin Spradlin or James Carlson know of someone in your area.