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Illmas, are you giving out free advice on Facebook? No wonder it's taking up so much of your time. We are starting to set limits. A client came in 5 or 6 times recently. He was getting divorced and the attorney wanted this and that or said this or that and what did we think. Recept finally sent him to me and told him there would be a charge and that he already owed us $X for his previous visits. He walked out in a huff and said he wouldn't be back. Bye. All he was looking for was free advice. We had a client actually tell us once that he was asking us because the lawyer charges everytime he calls. So why are you giving away your knowledge for free?

AND that there will be a fee for that conference. I've found it amazing (not!) how many "problems" go poof! when I tell the client there will be a fee for researching the answer. Of course, if it sounds like tax planning, I push for the conference - but toomany times yeah, they're looking for someone else to ggogle it for them and then interpret the results. For free.

I think you are overthinking this. I have a client that has done this for years. Even though its one mortgage, the closing papers will have a breakdown per building, especially if there were prior mortgage payoffs involved. Cash out based on appraised values over the mortgage amounts. In NY we also have a mortgage recording tax which would show the allocations. Insurance company will have a break down as to how they priced out the global policy. Usually a "per apt" cost. AS for selling one of the buildings. If his lawyer was worth his fee, he will have a right to substitute property or there would be a clause allowing prepayments of the mortgage without penalty. [maybe not for the first 2 years though] Clients do this because cross collateralizing gets them a very low rate, even here in NY its under 3% for rental properties. And having one mortgage also cuts down on closing costs. Biggest one that one of our clients did was about 30 properties in a master mortgage which was somewhere around $200,000,000.

Mine arrived. I agree - it is packed with info, well organized, and very good use of color.

Exactly, this is one of those situations where the client did not contact me nor ask me anything about this. I learned of this when reviewing the books and allocating expenses to each property. I am now waiting for the information to attempt to allocate the interest to each property for tax purposes only. I will also inform the client there will be additional charges for having to create mortgage amortization schedules for (7) properties.

Received mine today. Very nice.

Agree with what michaelmars said above. As for 7 amortization schedules, take the advice Roberts gave and use one spreadsheet with allocation formulas.

Thanks for clarifying my comment. Yes, the point of suggesting a phone conference or a sit-down is to establish that it will be billable time. And, as you said, the "need" for further answers generally goes away once that idea gets on the table.

Social media, email, and texting are valuable resources for maintaining client communication, but only if used efficiently. The intent is to keep the client out of your office and off your telephone so you can get some work done. But if the time expended in answering client questions isn't already built into their fees, then anything beyond short, simple answers to basic questions needs to be handled appropriately. It is easy enough to reply that the question is too complex, additional info is needed, or the matter requires a phone conference or sit-down meeting to tease out all the variables. Otherwise you will find yourself in a quagmire.

We could say this about SO many situations our clients get into! (Never *our* advice, of course -- but then, it often seems that ours is the least likely to be followed!)

At our office, we setup a new tax return "client" with the forms that we generally use with most of our tax clients. We name this "client" "AAA to Duplicate" so it is the first client on the menu. It has no entries anywhere, except for our preparer info. Then throughout the season, when a new client starts with us, we duplicate the return and rename it with the new client's name. If this makes sense to anyone, congratulations! You can do this same trick for 1065, 1120, 1120S clients as well.

That's what I have been doing for the last several years. No problems Works Great

If he chooses to sell on of the consolidated properties, the red tape, hoops and backflips he will have to do will be massive to accomplish it. It will all be with the bank. Whomever gave him that advice should be slapped...

Just login and fail 5 times then you'll get a prompt to reset with your installation code.

Comes as a surprise Elrod. I have enjoyed your wit and humor on this board, including the hilarious pictures of your "Family Reunion" a couple of years ago you posted for us as we were going into the countdown to April 15. I hope your departure is not due to any serous health or other issues. Wish you well and may God Bless you!

If you have to go, please come back and visit occasionally!

Say it ain't so Elrod...but if it is, you have all the best of wishes. Or are you giving us a metaphor...whatever that means. You do have a reputation for tricks or treats.

He will regret his choices if he decides to sell one of the properties.

I am not active on here as much as others...usually because I'm busy doing taxes. I understand if some very active users need to be less so...but I will miss their presence. I also think this board is a good way to unwind and escape during tax season.

Over the years I have written a couple of great say-nothing letters that include the buzzwords that let the mindless underwriters check their little checkboxes. ALL such letters go to the client only, for them to send to whomever is whining about wanting it.

I've told clients to get a certificate from the Secretary of State! I don't send comfort letters. When a client really gets to me, I send the client a letter that beats around the bush about the bank doing its own due diligence and state which tax form I file for the business and a bunch of nothing. I send to client who can do whatever they want with it.

Here is what I send them: