All Forum Posts by: Tristan Gardner

Congratulations! I value your drive to not just make a profit, but also restore a property to its glory. 

Brandon Turner dove really deep into this in his book The Book on Managing Rental Properties.  There's an entire chapter dedicated to fair housing laws, what to say (and not say). It also includes a great new tenant screening application that has been super helpful 

@Ashly B. Something that has really helped me in regards to the tax and accounting tasks is understanding the "why" and the "what" they do. I don't necessarily know HOW they do what they do with all the numbers and such, but I do understand why. I acquired much of this knowledge from Ken Mcelroy's business structure books, The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor, and The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies both by Amanda Han & Matt MacFarland

Sounds reasonable to me especially since those are some serious ticket items.

Also in my experience, boilers are a GIANT pain in the butt. Of course, they are a mess to replace both financially and aesthetically, but have been worth it for me to do when the boiler died 

@Nate Narcisse In theory, this would be so helpful. The issue I think you'll run into is the constant price changes. Keeping that up to date would be at minimum a full-time job. 

What may be more helpful is to determine the average costs of materials for each room. For example, I can redo a bathroom with tile floors, toilet, vanity, paint, and basic tub with a surround for $1750. Basic kitchens run $5000ish. Easy rooms like bedroom and living spaces I estimate $1000.

I typically double the cost when accounting for a GC or multiply by .5 for a handyman.

Couldn't agree more with @Will Kenner. Working with a dedicated accountant also will give you the same person/group who's very familiar with your business and financial goals making it easier in the long term to handle your accounting as you scale.

I've really been paying close attention to the B+ properties going up in my area as it's an area that needs some help. These new properties have been pushing up the rents and the nicer rentals keep moving closer and closer to my immediate area.

Going to need some more info with this one to really get an accurate picture.

Have you used a rental property calculator to map out all of your expenses and determine your ROI? BP has a good one https://www.biggerpockets.com/... I'd post the results from your calculation and let the crowd give you feedback on your expense numbers to make sure you're getting a good deal and analyzing correctly 

Usually, the county's tax website has a mailing address for the owner. I know direct mail isn't always preferable, but has proven effective 

Why not refi that bad boy and buy another?