Hey guys, what's going on? It's Seth here.
In this video I want to show you a little overview of my paperless filing system that I use
to stay organized in my real estate investing business.
So this was a real big struggle for me especially back when I was getting started
I just had like hard copies and sticky notes all over the place
I used to get a little sophisticated by using hanging file folders and stuff like that
but it was still just a huge hassle
just having physical copies everywhere
because first of all it took up space that I didn't have
and also if I ever needed to access that stuff when I was on the road or away from home
I couldn't do it because there was only one physical copy of that
What I eventually figured out and started transitioning to
was a paperless system using Dropbox
And Dropbox, chances are you've already heard of it
but if you haven't I'd strongly recommend it
It's essentially a free software that can store a lot of your files in the cloud
and sync up with other devices and computers
so you can access it from anywhere where you're sharing that same account
Other options for doing the same kind of thing would be Google Drive
that's another solid option.
So, you don't have to use Dropbox but Dropbox is what I started with
and that's kind of what I've stuck with over the years
and it's just been a huge game changer because I can pull up anything I need from my phone
I can also store some pretty big files
and share those files really easily with other people if I want to
and their free plan gives you a lot of space just right out of the gate
but if you want to pay for more storage you can do that as well
and that's actually what I'm currently doing.
But for a long time I just stuck with their free plan and it was more than enough.
And I will say that the folders and file organization
infrastructure that I'm about to show you
this is just what works for me
I'm not saying you have to do it this exact same way
You may have an even better way that's more efficient than mine that's working better for you
and if so by all means you can stick with that
this is just intended for people who were struggling at the same level that I was when I was getting started
and they don't really know how to make this work to their advantage.
I'm going to give you a tour of my actual folders in my business
just so you can get an idea for how my system works
and also if you're somebody who's doing a huge amount of volume on an annual basis
like hundreds of deals then you may want to look into something even more sophisticated
I know there's a lot of CRM software options out there
that can automate a lot of this stuff and store things in different ways
but this is sort of just the baseline
I think you should have at least this kind of thing in place
just so that you're not clicking into one giant folder
and trying to sort through hundreds of different documents
trying to find what you're looking for.
So, if you need help in this department
and you know who you are
let's jump into the computer and I'll show you how mine works
All right. So, this is it.
So, when I click on the Dropbox icon on my desktop
this is the folder it opens up
this is the top level folder
and each one of these six folders you see here
are kind of like giant buckets with a lot of stuff in them
but everything does have its proper place within those giant buckets so to speak
So, this one right here "Personal" that's where I put literally anything that's not business related
"Archive" is stuff that maybe I worked on a long time ago
maybe old business opportunities or projects
or things that just aren't that relevant anymore
I don't really need to see them on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis
but I don't necessarily want to delete them or get rid of them either.
There may come a point in time at which I want to go back and see that stuff again
so that's what goes there in "Archive".
"Public", this is where I put anything that I want to share publicly with somebody else
so one of the nice things about Dropbox is that it's very easy to share files with people
especially large files which would otherwise be kind of a pain
And I know Google Drive and other similar software options like Dropbox can do pretty much the same thing
and these shareable files actually don't even need to be in this folder
I just keep them in there just so it's straight in my head
Hey, everything in here is shared with somebody else
REtipster, this is a massive folder obviously,
with most of the stuff that I've ever done
that pertains to retipster.com
And when I click on it there's lots of things within this folder
that goes even deeper and when I click on each one of these things
it goes even deeper than that
so again even though there's a ton of stuff everything has its proper place
One of the keys to staying organized is we don't just dump a bunch of
unrelated stuff in a folder and call it good
if there's something that has a common purpose we put it in one spot
so that it's easier to find
In this folder right here called "Rentals"
so this has to do with all of my buy and hold properties
whether I own it currently or I've owned it in the past
or if it's something I'm looking to possibly own in the future
all of those long-term investment opportunities go right in here
And just for example here when I click on "Multi Family"
so these are like some of the past duplexes that I've owned
and I have them assorted by address
so I could click into any one of these and find all that information
I've got information about my old property management company
corporate documents for the LLC that holds these properties
all the related tax and accounting stuff
prospects over here
So if I'm ever looking at possibly buying a new property
I've got a new spreadsheet or possibly even a new folder
depending on what stage it's at
where I have a lot of my analysis and information that I'm gathering on those properties
At this point all the properties I'm looking at are just in an analysis stage
so there's no folders at this point
but if there were deals that were getting a lot closer to closing
there'd probably be a lot more information for each one
And let's see, over here, "Land".
This is my land business
and when I click on this
I just give you a quick tour of what these things are
So right here contracts and forms
these are a lot of the templates that I use again and again and again
and when I just need blank versions I can find them right here.
"Lists" so these are all the historical county lists that I use for direct mail
whether I got it from the county or from a data service
this is like the archive of every list I've ever worked with
It's all in here
And then "Corporate Docs".
So, this is for the LLC that I use to buy and sell all of my land.
This is where I keep the articles of organization and the operating agreement and tax id number
and any of that stuff that I have to keep track of
"Quest IRA". So, this is kind of interesting.
This actually isn't tied to my LLC however I do use this to buy and sell land.
This is a self-directed Roth IRA
and currently my custodian for that is a company called Quest IRA.
Whenever I want to hold my land in that investment vehicle
all that stuff is in here
not only like blank forms and templates that I have to use for that
but also like copies of the documentation I've used for past deals.
"Websites" right here.
So, any websites that I have running for my land business
all that stuff isn't here
not only the buying website but also the selling website
and also past renditions of my old websites are all on there.
"Voicemail System".
So, I've actually got a separate video and blog post about this
but my voicemail system has changed up a number of times over the years
and in here I've got copies of all the audio recordings
that I've used and all the scripts that I've put together for my voicemail message
And then "Marketing".
So, this is everything to do with like my logo
or branding for the company or anything related to that.
"Letter templates".
So, these are all the different templates that I currently use
or have used in the past
whether I'm using postcards or blind offers or some combination of the two
all that stuff is in here where I can keep track of it.
"Tax & Accounting Stuff"
that's exactly what it sounds like
like old information for my tax returns
or things that I need to keep track of for my current accounting work
like QuickBooks files and invoices and receipts if I ever need those things
And then "Other".
That's kind of just like a catch-all for all the other stuff
that doesn't really fall into any of these other folders
And "Memory Lapse"
These are like copies of old passwords
most of them are irrelevant these days because I use LastPass
but there are a few of them in there that I just keep for old time's sake
in case I ever need those
and then "Purchasing Activity" and "Selling Activity".
So, these are by far the two most active folders
in this parent folder of the land business.
So, the "Purchasing Activity".
These are records of every property I've ever purchased
or even made an offer on it.
The way that I sort these is starting by the state
and then once I click on the state
like if I click on Michigan here for example
and then I find all the different counties that I've ever worked in
in this case let's go click on Midland
and these are all the people who I have either purchased properties from
or at least sent offers to
I should also clarify when I'm sending out blind offers
which is basically a method by which you send out hundreds or thousands of offers at a time
in your first direct mail campaign
I don't keep track of each one of those with an individual folder
because that would be insane
that would be a ton of stuff to keep track of.
These are only the ones where I've had enough
back and forth with the seller to justify me actually opening up a file
and starting to do due diligence maybe putting together a formal purchase agreement
sending it to them individually
that kind of thing.
So, this is definitely not like every person ever including blind offers
but all the ones that reached some level of significance.
So, in this case if I go and click on this one right here
there's four different folders here
and this is actually reflective of how I used to keep my hard copy paper system
way back in the day when I first started my land business
and I didn't really have all this stuff paperless and in Dropbox like this.
So, I used to have these old hanging paper file folders
separated in four different sections
and one of those sections I would have the title work for the property
just so I had records of all the title work in it obviously
to make sure that the title was clear
if I ordered a title commitment that would have been in here
or if I did my own title work by myself that would be in here.
And "Purchase Agreement".
So, this is where I would have a copy of the signed purchase agreement
and also the Word document that I used to put it together
so I've got that stuff right here.
So, "Due Diligence", when I click on this
this is where I would put anything
that related to my research on the property when I was trying to find out
you know everything about it
I've actually got a spreadsheet right here
that kind of walks me through a lot of the standard questions I want to ask
about any vacant lab property I'm looking to purchase
like whether it's in a flood zone
or wetlands, whether it's got road access
the size, shape, dimensions, all that stuff
and then also what my approximate offer price might be
So, all that stuff lives within this due diligence worksheet
and in this case it's actually kind of rare
I don't usually do this because usually I can just deal with the county's GIS parcel maps for this
but in this case I actually ordered a survey on the property
because this particular property was landlocked and it was kind of tricky
to figure out where it was exactly
and I actually wanted to get stakes on site
so the future buyer could see that
so in this case I do have a survey
so anytime I get a survey that definitely falls under due diligence
and that would go here as well
and then the "Deed, Taxes & Supporting Documentation".
So, this was where I would have a copy of the recorded deed
just so I've got that.
Any supporting documentation like a property transfer affidavit
or whatever I have to do to notify the county of the sale price
and who the new owner was, that kind of thing would go in here
and really anything that would get recorded along with the deed
and in this case this is one PDF that has not only the deed
but a lot of other relevant stuff here as well
including like a death certificate
and letters of authority and stuff like that.
So, a lot of stuff can be buried in one PDF if I need to
or I can have it separated out into multiple different PDFs
so that's just a quick overview of the records I keep and where I keep them
when I am buying a property.
And then when it comes time to sell a property
and this is actually set up very similar to the "Purchasing Activity" folder
when I click on this I can see first of all the state level
now when I click on the state I can see all the counties
and then when I click on the county
I can see the person that I ended up selling to
when I click on this
this is kind of a similar setup but there's different information here
so I've got a copy of the original ad that I put together
and the reason I do that is just so I can remember what I said about it
and what kind of pictures I included with it
not that it's terribly important
but just in case I'm ever trying to remember what this property was all about
I can have that really quickly and easily right here.
And I've also got a copy of the survey here as well
and over here I've got a copy of the purchase agreement.
So, this is a scanned copy of the fully executed purchase agreement
that I signed with that buyer
in this case this was originally a hard copy piece of paper
with our wet signatures on it so I just ran it through my scanner and saved the PDF right here.
But these days I usually use Docusign for this
so I don't really have to scan anything
I just have a digital copy from the get-go and that would be stored here as well
But in any event whatever purchase agreement I have signed with that person
I just have a copy right in here so I can see it if I ever need it
and then over here the "Disclosure Statement".
So, whenever I sell a property I have my buyers sign a disclosure statement
which basically just explains that
if they wanted to do any research it was on them to do that
they're never going to come back and sue me or give me trouble for anything
they're basically just totally wiping out any potential liability
and I don't really need to do this but I just choose to do it
whether a property has title issues that I for some reason failed to catch
or if I somehow mistakenly misrepresented the property
or if they just misunderstood what I was trying to say
no matter what, the idea with this document is just to release me from any liability
and then over here just like the other folder on the buying end
this is where I keep copies of all the deed documentation
any property transfer affidavits that I would send
to the township or city or anything else related to that.
So, that's what goes in here.
I think that's a pretty good overview of everything that lives inside of this folder.
Obviously, there's a lot more stuff we could get into
if I went through each one of these folders
but that would make this video about 10 times longer than it needs to be.
Again, there's not really one right way to organize your stuff
and I'm not saying that this way is the best way ever
you might have a much better system than I do
but if you have no idea where to start
if you feel like you are just completely disorganized
and don't have stuff put together well
this is just one option and this is what has worked for me.
So, whatever that's worth I just wanted to show that to you guys.
I hope it's helpful.
And if you have some better way to do this
that you think is a lot more effective than this
by all means let me know
it would be interesting to hear what's working for you too.
Thanks for watching.
I wish you all the best if you're trying to stay organized
and I'll talk to you later.