All Forum Posts by: Lori Bossemeyer

One of our properties is a townhouse located in a University town.  We have been very successful in keeping it rented over the past 6 years, but there has been lots of development in the community, and the vacancy rate is around 8%.  The property is actually a couple of miles from campus, in a beautiful setting.  It is time to do some upgrades (carpeting getting worn, etc.) and I am contemplating repurposing the property as a "Vacation rental home" to make available to people who spend the weekend for games, parent weekends, etc.  If we did this, we would ramp up the upgrades and furnish.  The hotel rates in town tend to be on the high side and there is a strong alumni base.  I would really like input on this idea.  Good idea or Bad idea?  Anything to be concerned about?

Matt,

Thank you so much for explaining how you set up your mortgages. Very helpful! I am using QB for Mac, which does not do amortization calculations, so have to pull tables to get the interest expense portions. I did do a journal entry for the refi's, but I believe I have entered it incorrectly. Will just redo the entry.

Don't know if this helps, but we also had a nicer rental (middle of Kansas), and used a laminate floor to replace carpet in the family room. Having installed laminate floor several times, I would say I definitely like it. In one rental, we installed laminate we purchased from our Sam's store--maybe a Costco in your area. We found flooring which looked like hand scraped hardwoods--12 mm with an attached backing. This is a tongue/groove install--but did add a little flooring glue as well. Price point was right around $1.40 sqft. In another rental we used allure. It is a little "cottage" we had just acquired--the carpet was disgusting! When I pulled it up, I started to get excited with the hardwoods underneath, but found that there were areas which had been "patched" with plywood, so could not really just refinish the floors. The other issue was the fact that the floor was not exactly level. The allure worked GREAT in this property. Could not have used the laminate, without using some leveler on the flooring and time was running out. The allure was a very simple install.

My opinion, being a pet owner, is that carpeting should go. Even if the pets do not have accidents, carpeting hold the pet hair and odors. Hopefully, you are also charging an additional deposit for pets. There are so few landlords that allow pets in my area, that it is not even questioned when I will allow A small pet. One thing I am also checking into, is the affect of pets on your property insurance. Depending on the breed, you may want to double check on the liability coverage. I am moving to requiring all renters have a renter's policy (had lots of argument with my partner over this issue--he thought I was being ridiculous--whole new topic--Partners.)

Hope this helps!

I have been using Quickbooks for MAC for my rental properties. I purchased Jonathen's book, LandlordAccounting which has been very helpful. However, I believe I have set up my mortgages incorrectly. I have three different mortgages. One "mortgage" was a portfolio loan that we acquired as we (my husband and I) joined forces with a partner. The portfolio loan was used to roll all of the previous mortgages into one under our LLC. It was obtained roughly 5 months following the formation of the LLC. Therefore the transactions include making pmts on the previous mortgages, paying those mortgages off with the portfolio loan, and now making that pmt from the rental income of the 5 properties financed in this loan. What is the proper way of setting up this activity?

Thank you!