All Forum Posts by: Carini Rochester

I think you've hit on a real need in real estate investing. 

Functionality? A good starting point would be a usable chart of accounts (right out of the box) that closely follows the IRS's schedule E. The chart of accounts must be revisable as needed to add bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, etc. The ability to clone last month's transactions with revisions as needed. The ability to run reports, P&L, balance sheet. The ability to budget and compare actual to budget. Track multiple units in a given property.

Did needs drastically change? Needs changed gradually with each added property. Fourth property was 4 units. That was more drastic. 

I keep track of one, three unit property on a program (free) called Manager. https://www.manager.io/ My wife keeps track of our other 5 properties on Quickbooks. Manager had no out-of-the-box chart of accounts for REI. I googled, read one afternoon and invented my own chart of accounts that I have used for years, with subtle changes as needed.

That's excellent that you have the knowledge and experience to create the software! For me it is excellent that I don't. You can do it for me :)

The lease that I use (and would guess most boilerplates) have a clause about the lease ends in the event of a long term unoccupiable event (fire, for example.) Are you sure you don't have a line in there somewhere that ends the lease? Even if you don't, you might be able to claim that such an arrangement is normal business practice even absent the exact verbiage.

I used TurboTax, or something like it through three or four properties, then hired a CPA after that. I used (use) a bookkeeping program to keep track of every transaction and every mortgage whether or not I would be doing my own taxes. I think excellent bookkeeping and accounting are essential in REI.

Good to hear from you. Freedom First Real Estate Investors Association is great organization for networking and education in this area. https://www.ffreia.com/  Wish you the best! (They have an event tonight!)

I refinanced a house (single family, long-term rental) and used the money to make a down payment on a small multi-family. The rent received each month on the single family was $1500. The rents for the multi-family was $3000. The total rent coming in on the two properties was $4500. If one were to just look at the original single family you could say that this move destroyed the cash flow on that property at first (yearly rent increases have eased that.) But the totals for the two properties looks very good. The $4500 easily covers both mortgages and keeps up with regular repairs and maintenance, etc. In addition, I now have $400,000 worth of property that has been appreciating nicely instead of only the one $150,000 property. The argument for refinancing is not as strong as it was due to the higher interest rates now. But there are certainly cases where it can be the right move. Selling and doing a 1031 exchange can be done instead refinancing. Look at all your options.

Use Zillow to view similar rentals in your area. You're going to have to price yours similarly to get any applicants and to get it rented. As @Mike Kirby states, you can't rent it for more than the market will bear just because you have a high mortgage. Hopefully, the appraisal is low! As @Joe Villeneuve implies, the time to figure out the market rent was before you bought the property!

I have been where you are and I've tried what you are describing. I bought a fixer-upper (in 2016) in a C neighborhood in Rochester, NY (Portland and Norton area, on a side street.) Purchased for $20,000, put about $20,000 into it. The bank appraised it (improved, rented, stabilized) at $28,000. It wouldn't BRRRR. No refinance. No repeat. I am certain the appraisal was low. I think I could have put it on the market and gotten in the 50's. After owning it for six years I sold it for $100,000. So, my experience tells me that the after repair appraisal is the weak link in BRRR in C and D neighborhoods. Talk to your lender. Try to get a good understanding of appraised values in the area you are looking. Different lenders and different appraisers may have different opinions on city neighborhoods. Discrimination by banks and by appraisers is real, I think.

You are in Tulsa, a large thriving city. There are lenders on every street corner. What have you done so far to locate a couple of good lenders? What are the problems? Is the problem a lack of lenders or is there a problem with you as a borrower? You didn't actually post a question and gave us almost no information for us to work with.

As stated by @Mackaylee Beach , educate, study, read, join, network, learn, start. You say you are driven and you want to pursue real estate investing. Like any other money making endeavor, this requires an education. Not necessarily a college degree kind of education, but, still, reading, studying, working out the math of analyzing deals, etc. So, get started on these ideas. Post again in about a month to let us know what books helped the most and how many people in the this field or related fields you've met.

@V.G Jason 's response, above is correct. You won't have to worry about it. Your portfolio and your network, and your connections with loan officers, and your relationships formed at meet-ups, etc. will provide you with a path. Addressing your question, you mention "you can exhaust these . . ." You cannot exhaust DSCR loans. Unlike FHA, there's no limit to number of DSCR loans you can get. What can get 'exhausted' might be your money for down payments. For me, after coming up with down payments for three properties, the properties themselves created the down payments for additional properties through refinancing and 1031 exchanges.