All Forum Posts by: Don Chambers

I am looking for software to help me manage my rentals.  I have been using QuickBooks online and generating recurring invoices for the rent and receiving payments against that.  That's not an ideal approach and as I have gotten more house it's gotten cumbersome.  I have to add late fees manually, returned checks are trouble, the statement is hard to read, no good late report, etc.

I have  part-time bookkeeper that does most of the quickbooks work and my accountant access it at tax time.  I think it's best to use something that integrates with QB instead of an entire accounting package that most bookkeepers will not know.  

It should be a web solution so I can access it form work, home, mobile, etc.

I want to be sure my data is available.  I have switched accounting packages and it was a pain to move the data - I don't want to get stuck again.

Any ideas?

I would like to refi 14 loans on rental properties into a single loan.  Does anyone know a good source for this?  I am not looking for cash-out and I am prefer a 10 year amortization.

A local bank has agreed to do with a 6.25% apr.

The total borrowed would be $535,000 and the value is $941,000 according to zillow and $840,000 by the tax site.

I am looking for a better rate, or somewhere that can be more creative on the appraisals.  I don't want to pay for 14 appraisals - that's 10% of the total.

My goal is to simplify bookeeping.  I have a total of 18 mortgagse on rentals and it's a pain doing all the bookeeping for the loans.  I am not refiing all of them, 3 have a partner and 1 is a 30-yr fixed conventional.  I have 3 paid for and would add the as additional collateral if I could get a great rate.

I have 19 single family rentals.  Three with a partner and 16 myself.  I want to hire someone to help with the 16 I have alone.

I have been managing them for 6 years and I'm tired of it.  I want to add more but I have not bought a new one in over a year because of the hassle.  I am busy with other things.

I usually break even each year but if I didn't have loans I would make about $85k.  In a few years they will start being paid off.  I will except some negative cash flow to have help.

I have someone that does bookkeeping, gets rent from po box, deposits rent, and sends late letters.  That helps a lot but not enough.

I have two vacant. I put up signs but have not put up arrow signs or done any other marketing.  I have had a few calls but been too busy to call them back.  I'm too busy.  I want to be hands off.  Then I can scale by adding for houses.

When there are vacancies it only takes about 5 hours a month (that's probably high).  I can't see paying a mangement company $200/hour for this.  There charge a fee when they rent them so the monthly percentage just goes to these few hours if fielding calls.

My main problem is having time to market and show them.  But that is only needed when I have vacancies.

Does anyone have advice?

I was already a partner on these houses.  They were the first 3 houses I ever bought and we did it together.  I just bought him out but I was already on the bank account and the po box and the phone number.  

 I have not notified the tenant. We tried to reduce the impact to the tenants.  I only tell them at lease renewal.

It's been very smooth but I worry what court will say.  I have signed and notarized paperwork stating our deal.

I have recently bought several rental properties from a friend. He only had a few but I have 16. I am now managing these all under my company. When the leases come up for renewal I renew then with my company lease.

Now I have a tenant that I must evict. I have already filed for the eviction under my company name but then I realized that the tenant is still under the lease from the old company (my friend's company).

Our agreement was that I would take over all the duties of the houses. He is finished with them. The leases were assigned to me - I bought them. 

Is there a document I need to bring to court to explain why I filled eviction under a different name than that on the lease? (I am in Georgia)

In my state you must be the owner or full-time employee of the property management company in order to represent it in court. I could not file under his company name and go to court.

I have a tenant in Georgia that has not paid rent so I filed for an eviction. They filed an answer and we will have a court date. Usually in this case I win and get a judgement.

The tenants have not contacted me or responded to my letter. However, I just received a money order for a partial payment. I will not accept a partial payment and plan to go through with the eviction.

Do I need to return the un-cashed money order?

I would like to just take the money order to court. Explain that I didn't cash it because I don't accept partial payments. Then get the eviction and the judgement. Then I will cash the money order as payment on the judgement.

Is this logical?

Do I have to return the money order in order to not accept it? Or can I just not cash it?

I can return it in court if needed.

I sought out the blanket because the conventional loans have a limit on the number of mortgage you can have.

I want to roll the lower value houses into a blanket mortgage. Then I can refi the high value ones with a 30-year fixed loan.

Moving into an LLC, and refiing in that name, may get the loans off my credit report and solve the problem.

I have a couple of banks that were easy to deal with. No inspections, loan based on apprasial (not cose), etc. But I have run into a dollar limit with them. If I can move loans from them to the blanket at the other bank then I can do more houses with them. Each house in the blanket will be individually valued.

I think i will be able to sell one, pay off that portion, and remove it from the blanket. I am waiting on that answer now.

I am about to refi several with a local bank that will do a blanket. Is there a benefit to moving to an LLC when I do the refi?
Will it show on my credit report? I'm sure I will be personally responsible for the loan.

All the properties are in my name. I manage the business with the LLC. I closed in my name so I could get the GSE loans, and then continued it out of habit.

If i move the property into the LLC will that remove the details from my credit report? I am still personally responsible for the loans?

I am working with a local bank for a blanket loan. I could probably move these properties to the LLC when I move to the blanket loan.

How can I finance my rentals without it hurting my personal ability to get a loan?

I have 20 rental properties. One is owned free and clear, 4 have conventional 30-yr fixed loans, and the other 15 have 3-year commercial balloons with local banks. So far, I have had no problem rolling the loans over when the balloon is due.

Today I was turned down for a car loan with a credit union because of the number of mortgages I have (they only mentioned the number – no debt-to-income issue). In the past, I had trouble refinancing my personal residence because of the number mortgages I have. I have even been turned down for a credit card because of these loans.

When dealing with the commercial loans, and a bank’s business department, I don’t seem to have any problems. They know how to analyze my income, adjust for depreciation, etc. But when I try to get any type of non-commercial loan (car, personal residence, credit card, etc.) I have problems.

I have very little personal debt. I have a lot of debt on the rentals but they cash flow. I have saved up over $70k in my rental property bank account. That sounds like a lot, but it will only pay off one or two of the properties. I prefer having the cash cushion.

I find that it is very difficult to get a conventional loan when you have more than 4 mortgages, and impossible after 10.

One idea is to get a blanket mortgage where I have one mortgage covering several properties. If I can reduce the number of mortgage perhaps I can get a few more 30-yr fixed and increase my cash flow. (I really don’t like short-term financing on a long-term investment).
Does anyone know where to get a blanket mortgage?

Are there any tactics for getting these rentals off my personal credit report?
I know I am responsible for the loans, but they are handled by my rental LLC. It would be good if could confine them to the LLC so they do not interfere with my personal situation.

Any ideas?