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The top of this page displays a Dashboard Summary of all of my key performance metrics. Scroll down for a detailed month-by-month account.
august 2020 update (final update - SOLD)
Final numbers are in on this sale! The property sold for $135,000.
After considering all the closing costs (including commissions, prorated taxes, and the 1031 fee) this investment was mostly break-even. My worst investment, by far. I could have held onto this for another 5 years, hoping for more appreciation and rent growth, but I felt that I had much better things to do with this equity in Central PA. I’m happy to chalk this up as a learning experience, and move the equity into bigger, better, and more profitable properties.
July 2020 update (UNDER CONTRACT)
I decided to go the MLS route on this one and oh boy, it was worth it. We listed it “high” at $135k and had multiple cash offers at or near list price within 24 hours. I’m closing on 8/12.
I’ll be (hopefully) reporting final numbers on this property next month. There’s a lot of moving parts with make-ready repairs/cleaning that were incurred before listing but not yet paid for. Some of those repairs will be charged to last tenant who caused a decent amount of damage and left a lot of trash. Also, there will be some squaring up of insurance/taxes and escrow accounts at closing. The bottom line is, I don’t have an exact profit number yet. I expect when it’s all said and done, and considering this mostly property cash flowed negative, I will only make a few thousand overall on this investment. Not a home run and not ideal by any means, but I consider myself lucky to be exiting this investment without losing money. This was probably my least profitable property, ever.
I will be using the proceeds from this sale to perform a like-kind 1031 exchange into a 2 or 3 unit property local to me in Central PA. More details will be available on how this is going in future updates and of course through my Twitter feed.
june 2020 update (+$217)
No issues and tenants moved in at the end of June. Selling this thing will be tougher than expected. I’m going to be attempting to sell and rent the place (as-is) at the same time, and just take whichever option comes first.
may 2020 update (+$152)
No issues again. HOWEVER, I’ve had some recent excitement about this property. The tenants have given notice that they are moving out at the end of June, and I’ve been having conversations with the PM and an Indianapolis contractor about rehabbing and FLIPPING this property and selling it. I’m stoked about this for so many reasons. This could be the opportunity to sell off my worst performing property (based on cash flow), while forcing some extra equity in the process. THEN I could 1031 exchange (a.k.a. tax-free exchange) into one or more properties locally that cash flow much more. A lot needs to happen for this to be executed perfectly, but the initial plan is getting me pumped!
april 2020 update (+$152)
No issues and tenants paid on time.
march 2020 update (+$152)
Nice to see this property continue to eke out cash flow, considering I probably won’t be able to sell it in the current economic climate.
february 2020 update (+$152)
No problems.
january 2020 update (+$152)
Good first month of the year for this property.
december 2019 update (+$152)
Another good month for this property. Nice to see some good positive cash flow despite the increased taxes. This property remains a long-term liability so I’ll be definitely trying to sell it in 2020.
november 2019 update (+$152)
All quiet this month.
October 2019 update (+$152)
No issues this month, and no news about selling. I’ll probably be holding this one until the spring, or longer.
september 2019 update (+$152)
Everything went fine with the property (physically) this month, but a much more damaging change went into effect.
This massive increase cannot be understated - it just sucks. On a proforma basis, over the long term, I now am expecting to LOSE about $125/month on this property. This property has been for sale since I heard the news (a few months ago). I have a plan A, plan B, and plan C - I won’t outline the details here, but the key here is I’m not going to panic. When people panic in real estate, they end up losing a ton of money (and selling to people like me).
It will most likely take at least several months to unload this property but in the meantime the rest of the portfolio will just need to support it.
august 2019 update (+$392)
Back to normal this month. No issues.
july 2019 update (-$560)
Very bad month for this property as a refrigerator had to be replaced, plus a few other repairs.
June 2019 update (-$88)
Slightly negative this month as I was charged a fee by the PM for extending a lease. I was either unaware that they charged for this, or I forgot. It’s not cool…but, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
May 2019 update (+$392)
Still chugging along with no issues here. The tenants decided to extend their lease another 12 months, so that’s cool!
april 2019 update (+$1,491)
Wow. My Indy PM has a lot of integrity.
He found out they made a mistake during my last turnover (about 9 months ago). There was a bunch of charges to the tenant for repairs/cleanup and one of the charges didn’t make it into my account. Well, he found the issue and corrected it, and now I made an extra $1,000+.
This is awesome. Everyone makes mistakes, so I don’t blame them for that. The fact that they found the mistake and owned up to it without me even asking just reaffirms my confidence that these are good people to work with. A less honest PM could have kept that extra deposit for himself and I never would have known.
march 2019 update (+$208)
There was a minor maintenance issue this month (leaking dishwasher). Still made positive cash flow.
fEBRUARY 2019 UPDATE (+$392)
Another month with no issues.
january 2019 update (+$440)
Great start to the year, no issues.
December 2018 update (+$449)
Another month with no issues. Unfortunately, the large deck expense was the story of the year for this property, as well as the rest of the portfolio.
november 2018 update (+$449)
A nice rebound month for this property with no issues.
October 2018 Update (-$5,397)
As expected, I got hit with a large Capital Expense in the form of a brand new deck. The old one literally collapsed and I’m just glad no one got hurt.
September 2018 update (-$45)
I got hit with a few lingering expenses from the turnover this month. I’ve got a large CapEx expense coming up for this property (stay tuned) - very disappointing but necessary. This property continues to reinforce a few lessons: 1)Buy for cash flow, baby and 2) If you’re buying long distance, buy it turnkey and don’t try to be fancy.
august 2018 update (+$303)
Back in positive cash flow territory after going through the turnover expenses last month.
july 2018 update (-$1,072)
Expected down month for this property as it was vacant for a few weeks and also had some turnover expenses. The turnover repairs cost me about $500 but the total repairs totaled in the thousands - the majority of the bill was passed onto the prior tenants (which they paid promptly).
As expected, this property filled up fast with new tenants. I'll pay the tenant placement fee and this property will be cash flowing again soon.
June 2018 update (+$1,549)
As anticipated, big month due to the late payment coming in from last month, plus the current month.
The tenants are moving out at the end of this month and the property is being marketed. I received a very thorough and thoughtful email from my Indy property manager describing the turnover and anticipated timeline for getting a new tenant. Bottom line is the tenants were having some roommate issues which is why they were moving, and there are multiple highly qualified and interested prospective tenants. This should be filled in a week or two. What a big difference in the rental markets between Indianapolis and Central PA!
may 2018 update (-$650)
Negative month only due to an issue with the rent being paid electronically. The payment came through but only after I received my deposit from the property manager. No big deal - I'll get it next month. This is real life!
April 2018 update (+$384)
Another great month with no issues, hoping to start to see some consistent cash flow with this property.
march 2018 update (+$384)
No issues for this property this month, all good!
february 2018 update (+$129)
Barely positive cash flow as we had a furnace repair. Reminder - this property was NOT purchased turnkey, which in hindsight was a mistake. My new rule is that long distance properties must be purchased turnkey.
January 2018 update (-$606)
Negative cash flow this month due to a bad plumbing repair. Hopefully the worst of the repairs are behind us.
december 2017 update (+$1,034)
Good month - on time payment and no repairs. Plus I had the added benefit of no mortgage payment this month! Since I refinanced in November, my first mortgage payment was on 1/1/18.
November 2017 Update (-$533)
No issues this month - just had negative cash flow due to some final payments on HELOC's and a private loan which I used to purchase the property initially. Now that the refinance is complete and a much better loan is in place, I'll be ready to cash flow positive going forward.
October 2017 update (-$1,744)
First update for this property - this property was acquired from a wholesaler in May, went through a little rehab, then tenanted in August. We FINALLY just completed the refinance, which is why it took so long to put together the final numbers.
The appraisal came in lower than expected $125K - so this is not a home run deal initially - but I think a primary homeowner would pay $150K for this property (if not now, in a few years). Please note I do not count that in my metrics above - the appraisal came in at $125K, so that is the value I record in my dashboard.
As you can see, cash flow has been unimpressive so far, but I expect it to improve for two reasons: number one, the refinance will lower my monthly interest payments (I was using HELOC's and private money for the purchase and rehab) and number two, there were some initial "make-ready" repairs that took place in the first few months.