All Forum Posts by: Wade Sikkink

The current array of options for taking care of accounting if you self manage are not good.  Lots of companies offer tenant screening, applications, maintenance, etc.  None offer a good accounting package with reports for an affordable price.  I've tried many of the ones mentioned above and haven't found them to be good at the accounting.

There aren't many good choices for people self managing their units to do their accounting with.  The current free or low cost options out there are not good.  I would be looking for something new.

Money spent on a good CPA is always money well spent.

Just remember, the CPA can only do good for you if you are providing good data.  Shoe boxes full of receipts is not the way to run a business.

Buildium is pretty much just for big property management companies.  It's too expensive if you aren't managing 100 units or more.

There is a real lack of good tools in the market for managing the financial side of your rentals if you are small (fewer than 20 units).

I've done some research on this and found that about 70% of people that have 20 or fewer units either use Excel or nothing (paper) to keep track of their bookkeeping.

The market needs something better.....

You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen.  A classic.

Refinance is the typical thing most people do.  We bought a 14 unit building in 2013 with a 20 yr am loan and a 5 year balloon.  We just refi'd it in Nov.  I refi'd a little early before the balloon was actually coming due to lock in a lower interest rate.  I believe rates will be going up over the next few years, so I wanted to refi now and get a low rate locked in.  On the new loan we have a 15 year am and a 7 year balloon, so I'm locked in on the low rate for the next 7 years.

The terms you can get on the refi when the balloon comes due will depend on the overall market conditions and terms that are generally available for commercial loans.

Good luck.

Lots of bad advice on this thread....

Property abandoned by tenants requires special treatment.  It is not simply a car illegally parked on private property.  Those rules don't apply.

Every state has it's own laws, but property left behind by tenants, regardless of the circumstances, has to be documented, removed and stored before it can be dispositioned.  Property above a certain value has to be handled differently than junk that has no value.  In my state, even junk valued at less than $1,000 has to be stored for 2 weeks before I can throw it away.

If you don't know the rules in your state, consult an attorney.  Believe it or not, a tenant can come back after abandoning property and ask for it.  If you threw it out or "pushed it in the street and wrote free in the window" you could find yourself on the losing end of a trip to the courtroom.

Good luck.

This seems super easy to me.  Rent is $960 per month, utilities included.  The tenant doesn't care what the rent is because they aren't paying it anyway.  Get the full amount and you should be easily covered.  Seems to me like everyone is over analyzing this one.

I've found the 50% rule is about right on for our apartment building.

You could spend a lot of time drilling into details on expenses to look at deals, but I think that would be wasted.  If you assume 50% in expenses and the deal works, move forward.  If the expenses are better than 50%, then that's a bonus.  

Don't over analyze.  Good luck.

If you don't have a formal agreement, and the broker didn't bring you the deal, then you don't need to cut them in. However, I'd tell them about it. Just say you found a FSBO deal and you're working on it and if you need their help you will let them know.

That might show the broker you are a serious buyer and maybe they will shake the bushes a little harder to find you a deal that they do get a piece of.

Good luck.