All Forum Posts by: Simon W.
Simon W. has started 47 posts and replied 1288 times.
Post: Creating A NEW Property Management Software
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Accounting is a major piece. If you put a corporate accounting to eliminate standalone accounting such as QB and Xero. It will definitely be helpful.
There are plenty of stuff that other major platform needs improvement on so if you can tackle those, it would be a game changer.
Post: Charging a Monthly Maintenance Fee
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Andrew Syrios:
Hi everyone, we are thinking of charging a monthly maintenance fee to cover our semiannual preventative maintenance inspections (where we check for leaks, clean the AC unit, replace the furnace filter, etc.) and also a once a year gutter cleaning. We're also thinking of having a two-tier program. One which covers the PMIs and gutter cleanings and one that adds a weekly mowing service during the summer months.
I know one property manager nearby who charges $30/month for such a service. I just wanted to get a feel for what others are charging for this or if they are charging for it at all. I think will help us (and hopefully some others) when it comes to properly pricing this service. Thank you in advance!
I don't think it will fly with a monthly fee for a semi-annual. This just translate $180 for the inspection. One will argue what does the Management Fee (base) covers?
Post: Family equity pitfalls and consequences?
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Gordon Burwell:
Quote from @Simon W.:
Quote from @Gordon Burwell:
Hello all, I have a family member that has a decent property 4bd 2b 2 car detached garage on about 1-2 acre value is around $230–250 and if cleaned up and in perfect condition $300+. Now the property is free and clear no liens on it. The family member has expressed interest in adding my name to the deed so I or WE could use it to invest in real estate. Excluding the debate about getting into business with family. What are the downsides or risks that I would be taking by doing this? Thank you hope to hear from you.
I am trying to understand, why this family even wants to add your name to the deed in the first place. What does this family member get out of this?
To answer your question about the downside or risks - there might be an existing or a possible lawsuit and you would need to be held liable for 50% of it.
The family member is wanting or hoping to turn the equity into a portfolio with an income stream. They do not however have the knowledge, credit score, or physical ability anymore to fix or get into real estate. They assume adding my name to the deed would make it a better position for me to leverage the house when talking to lenders.
You can just partner up with the family member and they can put the house as collateral to get a loan.
Post: Looking for Partner to build a Real Estate Portfolio With
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Sent you a request
Post: Difficulty finding a tenant
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
There could be number of reasons.
Not a lot of people buy around winter time. Think Holidays. No one wants to be moving around the holidays and in the cold.
2 weeks is very short window to notice traffic
Post: Best Property Management software to use??
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Travis D.:
Thank you for the info, all. Seeing Rentvine and Buildium mentioned a few times. Do either of these platforms charge tenants a fee to pay their rent?
As far as I know, Buildium does charge a fee. It depends on what tier of subscription you are on. I am not sure about Rentvine.
Post: Family equity pitfalls and consequences?
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Gordon Burwell:
Hello all, I have a family member that has a decent property 4bd 2b 2 car detached garage on about 1-2 acre value is around $230–250 and if cleaned up and in perfect condition $300+. Now the property is free and clear no liens on it. The family member has expressed interest in adding my name to the deed so I or WE could use it to invest in real estate. Excluding the debate about getting into business with family. What are the downsides or risks that I would be taking by doing this? Thank you hope to hear from you.
I am trying to understand, why this family even wants to add your name to the deed in the first place. What does this family member get out of this?
To answer your question about the downside or risks - there might be an existing or a possible lawsuit and you would need to be held liable for 50% of it.
Post: Buildium for accounting too?
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Mike Hoover:
Quote from @Jill F.:
We use buildium accounting for our units -- it was one of the reasons we selected buildium.
Thanks for all your inputs making this a useful forum. 😊
Hey Mike, I responded to your other thread about Buildium.
CPA do not need to go to any of your platforms even if you have QBO. It is just something easier for them to access without asking you to generate the reports.
One of my client uses Buildium but can't sync his bank accounts to the platform. So I would just have to manually create those transactions, not the most fun thing to do, but it's not difficult since I've been doing it for over a year now.
Post: Doorloop vs Appfolio
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
Quote from @Mike Hoover:
Quote from @Simon W.:
Quote from @Ryan Rocchi:
We are trying to decide on a property management software for our company. We currently have 105 units and are using a variety of excel, google docs/sheets/calendars, apartments.com (ads and rent collection), docusign and QuickBooks online (which we would like to keep).
Looking to consolidate into one software and believe we have narrowed our search down to Doorloop vs Appfolio. We would love some recommendations from users of both!
Thanks!
If you plan to grow even more, AppFolio would be the one to go. Although, Buildium is good and affordable, it isn't just as robust compared to AF.
I hear negative things about doorloop and don't have any experience with it.
I consult my clients in AppFolio and Buildium so it really just the price and how big you want to grow your business.
Hey Simone! Appreciate your insight on this matter as I’m trying to get up to speed on all the functionality of Buildium. My CPA requires Quickbooks online and it seems there isn’t an easy way to do the data entry and allocations and keep those two systems inline with all the transactions. Are you using Buildium for your accounting records and for tax purposes? How do most people handle this dilemma?
CPA shouldn't require you to use anything. All they need is balance sheet & income statement to do the tax returns.
I help my clients manage their books as well.
I was able to help use Buildium for all accounting records.
Buildium's bank sync/feed is a hit or miss kind of situation.
If you are using Buildium and can connect your bank accounts to it, then there is no need to get QBO subscription. You should be able to setup corporate level accounting.
Post: I’m Paralyzed, Seeking Real Estate Guidance
- Real Estate Consultant
- Lehigh Valley PA & New York City
- Posts 1,339
- Votes 650
They are going to look at tax returns, they aren't so much looking at it month to month basis.