All Forum Posts by: Ryan Vienneau

Schenectady is fine, just make your units nicer than average and you'll be in good shape.  I have 2 duplexes there, and my 3 BR units are getting $1100+ and I have a 4 BR getting $1400, and I'm into them for about $50k/unit average after repairs, so better than the 2% rule.  In fact, my cap rates are over 15 in both, and my tenants are great (carefully screened).  They're both in C+ neighborhoods.  

Troy is stupidly overpriced, it is equally murder-y as Schenectady in parts but everyone is overpaying because of the hipster vibe going on downtown, that bubble will burst eventually when Troy investors begin realizing that rents don't support the sell price and nothing cash flows.  Schenectady has also done a great job revitalizing its downtown like Troy but prices don't reflect it yet.  

Sheehan moving into Arbor Hill is a political move, definitely not a sign that it's become a desirable place for anyone to live...

For Albany NY area, Chuck Rosenstein, https://www.therolawfirm.com/. He's also the legal sponsor for our local REIA.

Call Chuck Rosenstein, http://therolawfirm.com/, my wife is a broker and he handles her closings and he specializes in investors, and is our local REIA sponsor. Tell him Ryan and Erica Vienneau with Veno Properties referred you.

I've got a great guy for you, does my 2f in schenectady lawn and snow, private message me and ill send you his info

@Roy N., unfortunately, to add to the frustration, Buildium's journal entries do not allow you to enter a vendor for the expense, you can only select which GL Account to debit and which payable to credit, so I'd still be stuck not able to track vendors for 1099's, see below.  I'm tempted to do what many have said which is to just use a debit card, but I get 2% back on a CC, which is not insignificant when managing dozens of vendors, and I really hate to change a process that's working because the software I chose is lacking a basic feature.  It also makes me wonder how many other issues I just haven't noticed yet will come to haunt me.  Too bad AppFolio won't return my calls or emails...

Sorry for the late reply @Linda Weygant, I missed the alert and didn't think I got any replies...

Great response, and that's pretty much how I set things up w/my CPA. I left this part out of my original post, but I actually ended up forming 3 new LLCs because my wife and I are also starting up a RE brokerage concurrent with the property management company. One LLC is for a standalone real estate brokerage for representing buying/selling clients, another is the management company, and a third is an umbrella or holding LLC that will hold all of my personally owned properties (also in LLC's), so that I can account for them all in one place. Was a huge PITA to setup, but is now very clean and easy to maintain.

@Ryan Swan, funny you say that, I just used all of my votes on that one feature last week, which kind of sucks because I wouldn't consider that an "enhancement" as much as just a total whiff on Buildium's part.  I MAYBE could understand if they just hadn't gotten around to having automated credit card tracking like every other accounting software on the planet, but to not even have the option to track them manually is ludicrous.  

That feature is so basic I never would have thought to even ask first if it was included.  To me it would be like asking "Is there a feature to reconcile accounts?" or "can you create an income statement?" I mean, it's such a critical, basic, and SIMPLE feature I don't get how it's not there.  Anyhow, yeah, I voted for it pretty hard.  

@Roy N., that's a good idea, I'll try that and post if its a possible workaround.  I even tried entering charges as manual journal entries, but even that doesn't work because you can't track each vendor, just the credit card.  

So I just joined Buildium, spent hours setting everything up, it seems mostly pretty great, except one HUUUUGE issue that is making my head explode...they don't support credit card tracking?!?!?  WHAAAT??  This totally would have been a deal breaker had I known before signing up, but now I'm too far into it to turn back, so I need to make something work.  How are other Buildium users out there handling this?  

I contacted Buildium and they confirmed they do not offer credit card tracking, but offered a workaround which was to set up a credit card as a bank account, and when there is a balance it's just always negative in the bank account, and this would allow you to track individual purchases like it was a checking account.  The problem is, that's not proper accounting because a credit card is a liability, and doing this workaround will reduce your assets rather than increase your liabilities, which totally messes up your balance sheet and debt-to-income ratios.  

When I pointed that out, they suggested I instead setup my credit card as a vendor, and enter each charge as a bill, which would then fix the assets and liabilities issue.  The problem with that is that now you're no longer tracking what you've paid to actual vendors, so you lose the ability to issue 1099's and know what you've paid who at the end of the year.  Oh, and both of those solutions are a giant PITA also, so there's that.  

Surely others have this issue and have figured out a workaround, any suggestions???  

Need help from the accountants out there, there are a lot of posts on this topic but none I could find that address this question and my CPA wasn't much help (may need a new CPA)...

I just moved my buy-and-hold rental from my personal name into an LLC as part of a commercial refi. I'm about to transact a multiple property deal where I will put each property into its own LLC. So, assume I will have 4 properties in 4 LLC's that are owned by me as sole member.

From multiple discussions I've had and reading posts here, I think I also want to form a 5th LLC to act as a management company, so that I can have one business account and credit card to collect all rent and pay all the overhead and expenses (paying for meals, PO box, RE licensing fees, etc). I'm also working to bring in some outside property management accounts that would operate there as well.

My question is, in this structure, what is the actual mechanism to account for cash flowing between the property management LLC and the holding LLC's? Does the property management LLC have to pass down to the holding LLC's the income left after paying expenses each month just like if I were managing someone else's properties? Does the management LLC bill for it's services? And if income passes into the holding LLC, what is the best practice for pulling that cash out to utilize for other purposes while preserving the veil and not commingling. (Example, property LLC #1 has $10k cash on balance sheet, but property LLC #2 has none and needs a $10k roof).

Here's an example:

This month Property LLC#1 receives $2000 in rent and incurs $600 in direct expenses for a cash flow of $1400. The management LLC needs to pay $300 for real estate licensing, and $200 for the phone bill. How does the money flow in this structure?