All Forum Posts by: Laura R.

I have 10 sfr that are managed by a third party for us. I need an EASY accounting program for landlords so that I can enter rents collected and expenses, and then get reports, including Sched E.

Any suggestions for an online app or a Mac app that will do this? (I used to use Quiken, but I upgraded my Mac and would like to get away from Quicken.)

Bill --
Thanks for calling out some of those "gotchas" on the blanket loan. That was really helpful!

Thanks to everyone!

Brian, Steve -- thanks for the info on LOC -- as we approach our 10 loan limit, these are new terms as well as new ways of thinking about financing. Our local REIA seems to be filled with newbies and commercial mortage brokers. We live in Silicon Valley, so there's no shortage of wealthy people...but the ones we know don't "get" real estate...the search continues though!

Nathan -- I will begin "dialing for dollars." We live in CA and do our biz in TX, so I may add calling on bankers as part of my next property tour.

Jon -- We met at BiggerPockets! (I recognize the crew cut ;)

Thanks, Brian -- good points.

One question -- what's LOC?

And...do you have any recommendations for portfolio lenders?

Laura

Until Fannie/Fred changed the rules, I used to do this all the time -- buy with cash and refi. Then, Fannie/Fred changed their rules and now, if you are going with a lender that is following Fannie/Fred's guidelines, you can only do a refi if you have <4 properties. If you have >4 mortgages, they won't do the refi on an investment property. Period. VERY frustrating. That means we have to find the smaller banks that portfolio their loans.

Along the same lines-- we're facing the same Fan/Fred limits...does anyone have any thoughts on how we might either roll our current mortgages up into one loan, or, how we might get a larger, fixed term, fixed rate loan, say $250K to buy 4-5 properties at one time? The onesy-twosy lending process is killing us with fees, particularly when the loans are just $60-70K.

A realtor told me you can't get a HELOC on an investment property in Texas. Does anyone know if that's true?

Lynn --

Do you ever see the "We Buy Houses" signs in your town/area? They're the wholesalers. Also, if you have an Real Estate Investors club in your area, they'll know who the wholesalers are in your area, too.

Lynn --

this is a challenging issue. We live in California, but do all of our investing out of state using real estate agents who specialize in selling to investors. Have you checked into these resources --

1. www.reoagents.net :: Website listing agents who sell REOs/ this doesn't mean, of course, that that is all they do, and you may have to kiss quite a few frogs, but you might find a few people who do this.

2. www.icg.com -- A RE investor referral agency. They put "teams" together for investors in certain markets. No charge to the investor.

the other option is to contact the wholesalers directly. you'll pay a little more for the houses, but they have inventory and they're looking for you as the investor.

Good luck!