All Forum Posts by: Dan Kelley

What's the area like? I wonder if you could do the rehab and Airbnb it?

I've used Buildium for around a year and I just switched to Tenant Cloud. Buildium was a little "clunky" to use and I wasn't fond of it, however I think it had some really in-depth accounting reports and features.

Tenant Cloud is very easy to use and intuitive. It offers a few different options for rent collecting online, some free, some not. The web service itself is free to use up to 75 units. I've been using it for under a month but I'm loving it so far. I will say the only downside so far seems to be the reports. There are not a ton of options for in depth reports, but I think it does most of what you would need. Worth a shot to check out since it's free.

I wanted to let you all know that I am starting up a Dubuque REI group. I've created a facebook page (search for Dubuque REI). My plan is to start monthly meet-ups to network, get to know other investors in the area, and perhaps discuss certain topics depending on how much structure we would like to have.

If you are at all interested in coming to some Dubuque meet-ups in the near future, please join the Facebook group and introduce yourself on the page. Thanks and Happy investing!

Dan

I currently am owner occupied in a duplex that has a detached 3 car garage. I'm looking at moving out to move my family into a single family home, but I'd like to make this property cash flow as much as possible.

I've always had the idea in the back of my mind to convert the 3 car garage into a rental unit. It has rather high ceilings and I think could make quite a nice unit. I have a few questions though...

1. Does anyone know the legality of this? I'm in Iowa. Would I have to divide the land into two separate parcels?

2. Any idea on the expense to hook the garage up to water/sewer/gas? As I said, it is detached from the main house. It already does have electricity to it with it's own breaker panel.

Depending on your answers to these questions, I will also have to consider if it's worth the investment. My other option is to just rent out the garages as storage when I leave, however I'm only looking at like $60/ stall, so $180 max. I think, depending on how many bedrooms I could fit ( I'm thinking probably just 1) I could get around $450/month and have tenant pay all utilities if I did the conversion.

Any thoughts? I'm not sure if this is the right section at all to post this question but I was having a hard time deciding where to post.

Thanks for any input.

To add my $.02,

I've been using Buildium for almost a year now, but I'm in the process of switching over to Tenant Cloud. Buildium has a ton of great financial features, but I honestly find the way it works to be a little "clunky" and difficult to navigate. This is understandable due to the complexity and number of features, however it seems to be much more than I need. Buildium seems to me to be very similar to QuickBooks in the way it operates. Tenant Cloud is a much easier to navigate interface and is better designed in my opinion. Tenant Cloud is sleek and intuitive like any new web page or app you'd expect to come across on your iPad. 

Buildium is able to track all income and expenses as well as what's currently in the bank account, etc. I found that it does more than I need. Tenant Cloud tracks my income and expenses but does not have any "accounts" page (at least not to my knowledge) to track how much money I have in the bank. I'm find with that. I just want something to track my tenants and income/expenses and allow to me spit out a report at the end of the month/year to see how my property is doing. Tenant Cloud does this very well and I'm very pleased with it (obviously pleased enough to drop Buildium.) 

Part of the decision also was that Buildium just raised prices again. I'm now paying $50.00/month. I currently only have 7 units. Tenant Cloud is free up to 75 units. 

If anyone has any specific questions about Tenant Cloud, let me know.

Dan

Very nice looking, however I usually prefer to replace the outlet as well. Who knows... maybe it's overkill, but I feel better know there's a brand new outlet with no loose connections on it.

@Christina R. ...huh? So because I purchase a property at $79k, that automatically means it's ARV is 79k? That's absurd. Buying a property at a discount does not automatically mean the property is now worth less. This house was purchased several years ago for $35,000 as a foreclosure. Does that means it's ARV is still only $35k? It's ARV is equal to whatever comparables are selling/ have sold for. I'll never understand why some agents/ appraisers want to try to say that a property only appraises for what the sale price is. That makes absolutely zero sense. If I purchase a $100,000 property from a family member who is helping me out and sells it to me for $50,000, the ARV doesn't magically deflate to $50,000. The house is still comparable to multiple $100,000 sales.

And yes, an investor/flipper CAN go and find these deals on the MLS. But, realistically, their business is to flip houses, not to market. They make they're money when they are in the building, running the numbers, doing the demo, etc. They're not looking to start a marketing business and find motivated sellers on the MLS. I would think, though I'm not in their shoes, that a flipper would be just as happy if i brought them an MLS deal as if it was not from the MLS as long as there is a significant discount over the list price and there is a reasonable amount of profit to be made.

I recently marketed in my area with door hangers and had a gal contact me. Her house is currently listed on MLS, however she is in a bind and wants to sell quickly. She has it listed for $92k, but within my first phone call I found out that she'd take as low as $79k to get it sold. Now I haven't even tried to negotiate lower with her, but that is a perfect example of an MLS listing that would be a good deal to an investor. I'd likely put it under contract for $79k or less, add my $3,000 assignment fee, and sell to the investor for $82,000. Still considerably less than it was listed for. And, ideally, I would actually get it under contract for closer to $70k to leave more room for profit for the investor.

So, if my investor happened to look and find it on the MLS, he would see that I've already negotiated $19,000 off the asking price, so I wouldn't think he would be too inclined to end our working relationship. Especially if I've left enough room for him to make a solid profit ($10k +) on a property that needs very little work.