All Forum Posts by: Bill P.

Unless you flip houses where the value appreciation is the name of the game, you have to base everything on cash flow. As a side note, banks don't give loans on future appreciation projections, they want cash flow to secure their expectation of repayment. You should structure your investing the same way.

Many ways to do it. The way we do it is on our website:

http://www.tetrahomes.com/Investors/SCORE/Rates/rates.html

Has worked for us for years. Hopes this helps to clarify your thinking.

@Matt Fisher 

Domain name is important for people to remember if branding is important to you. Content is what dictates better search engine placement AND entices people to keep coming back. I think you need both. Don't out-think this process to much. Without knowing our direction it is hard to give a better opinion. For example, we have used rent2own4.us and rei4usa.com for our R2O and wholesale parts of our business but are now trying to move into a different direction. The R2O domain name worked very good because it was easy to remember but I feel that we had mixed results on the wholesaling name.

@Jayson Greenblatt 

Never a partnership when other options are available. Never. Do your due diligence. weigh the concept and benefits to you and enter into an LLC (an alternative to a partnership). See your attorney and move forward on your decision. Don't get into analysis paralysis.

Go with the larger security deposit BUT make a standard process to do it so you can apply the same concept to all potential renters in the future so you don't end up being on the wrong end of a discrimination suit.

@Chad Carson 

I may have a different perspective than a lot of landlords. since I use to own a public accounting firm, it is almost impossible for me to give up an accounting program and use Buildium. Not that Buildium can't be used as such, I just NEED that double entry system that is so proper. We do a lot of LLCs with property and partners and need to have a robust system. I could never get Buildium to be my perfect system. However, Buildium is a first class PM program and is at the top of the game. Our biggest problem was reporting through the owner's portal the exact info we want and excluding info that we didn't want shown on a preliminary basis. I also thought that the methodology of autopay under Buildium was way overpriced and not cost effective for all the accounts (LLCs) we have under our control. We are soon attempting to using Rent Manager for a trial as soon as I get out of preparing all the 1065s and K-1s for 2014. Hope this helps.

@Eric Robert 

I once had a rental (single family home) that had a great tenant as well. This particular property came with 3/4 of an acre and they decided to raise fish. They dug several ponds throughout the yard, without my knowledge, and raised fish for resale. I would have stopped them if I had known since it was a major undertaking to dig these ponds. I didn't find out until they decided to move. A couple of thousand dollars later to re-landscape and get rid of the fish, I rented the house again. My point here is that different unknown businesses can create different economic consequences. Babysitting seem to be at the low end of the scale and as long as insurance has you covered, the risk/reward ratio may dictate to let the good tenant to do what she is doing. After all, it is this extra money that allows her to be the perfect tenant. You could do worse.

PS- If I would have known about the fish farm, I would have made sure it was allowed in the zoning, then adjusted the lease to account for the revenue generation. If they would have declined, I would have asked them to fix the property and leave.

@Vinson Lee 

Rent can be made to start whenever you would like it to begin. There are arguments on both camps, but I like to start might on the 1st of the month as most tenants understand that concept of "month". Give a pro rated invoice if you must, but when I do, I try to extract a couple of extra months to get the expiration to a month that is in my favor.

@Account Closed 

If you decide to do it, please verify everything and get your first month and security deposit first before letting them move in. The key is here to protect yourself if you are going to move forward with this. Also, make sure the assignment of income is irrevocable for a period of time so they don't double back and cut you out of being first in line. 

@Nghi Le 

Each state has a slightly different set of rules that govern that decision. Call you state securities office and just ask them. They won't answer questions of law but they should answer a question about conflicting names.