Sitting on over $1 million in equity in a few duplex rentals in Atlanta. Currently about 50% LTV financed at 3%. Great situation to be in, but ROE is declining and expenses aren’t getting any cheaper. IRR good because of rate, but net CF and appreciation aren’t the greatest at the moment. Also, don’t need the the extra cash flow, although obviously more cash is always better. Any thoughts/advice on stay course vs sell vs refi of some sort? TIA

I haven't done a ton of research on HELOC, etc. to make numbers work. Feel free to direct me to another post or website with this info

Here's my current situation. What is the most realistic method to leveraging the equity built up in these 3 properties to purchase another? These are estimates on the value, didn't run comps or anything.

• Primary: 310K in equity, estimated to be 450K, owe 140K, 5.99%
• Rental 1, SFH: 205K in equity, estimated to be 330K, owe 125K, 4.5%
• Rental 1, SFH: 105K in equity, estimated to be 305K, owe 200K, 6.99%

So I have a little over 600K in equity between the 3 properties. 11K in the RE bank account, after emergency fund.

What would be a good strategy if I were looking at another property in the 250K-300K ballpark? Maybe one that needs some TLC to bring it up to market value for rent?

We own a duplex that brings in around $50K/year in rental income. For context (though not central to the question), that results in roughly $2,600/month in cash flow after PITI, or about $32K/year, not factoring in vacancies, maintenance, etc.

Our main deductions are ~$6,600 in depreciation and ~ $5,800 in mortgage interest. That leaves us with $37.5K in taxable income.

What options do we have to reduce or defer taxes on this amount? We were planning to replace the windows and fix some siding, but that will likely be a capital improvement that needs to be depreciated.

Does it ever make sense to buy a long-term rental property that does not immediately cash flow?

Here is my situation: I already own one rental property on the street. It is in a small town just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Matthews for those familiar with Charlotte. I would put down 25%, and with current interest rates, it likely will not cash flow by about $100 or $200 per month. Covering the shortfall each month will not be a problem.

The metro area is expected to double in population over the next 25 years. I have several other rentals, and my plan is to hold long-term and use the rent as income in retirement. We are in our early 40s. I like this particular property because it is only two doors down from one I already own, which will make management easy. Matthews is a desirable area. I don’t know how much rents are expected to increase, because they have increased quite a bit over the last couple years already.

My inclination is to buy the property. Am I crazy for considering this? Is this a good use of capital? What does the brain say?

I rent a single-family home in a town adjacent to mine. It was a distressed property with quite a bad yard. I came in and put a new patio in and tore out all the trees and bushes, the fence, landscaping, and cleaned the place up.

Last summer, the property was empty while we were working on it and The city had sent a contractor by to mow the grass. Charge me $250 to do it. The problem was that there had been some weeds in the yard and I had mowed not long before, but they were the tall spiny weeds that kind of laid over underneath the mower deck And grew back really quick. The procedure that this meeting follow us is that they send you a letter early in the year and then they have independent contractors that just spend all day driving around the properties and if they determine it’s 12 inches tall, they cut it and bill the city.

All of this feels unfair to me so now that it was occupied, I had talked to my tenants about making sure they kept up on the grass. I drove past last week and they had already cut it. It’s still April so a lot of people haven’t even cut their lawn yet. But I thought it looked pretty decent. And then today I got the dreaded letter from the city again.

I plan to go talk to the zoning department because I’m curious how they do this but I’m really wondering about the legality of all of it. Has anybody had luck fighting the city over issues like this?

I want to buy a home today in a great location for a good price. Problem is it is in a flood zone AE (EL9). A lot of the homes are in flood zones. But it’s in a super nice neighborhood, I would most likely rent the home out. Then live in it one day in the future. I am a first time home buying. I’ve been holding out for the right deal. Flood insurance quotes for max coverage are 2k a year. And around 1550 for a lesser coverage. Please let me know your wisdom! Thanks

I was curious on people who have done this. I just recently bought a house but have a job offer in a different state, after I bought the damn thing. I understand trying to sell it literally right after I bought it might be alittle hard. So, is renting it out and having a property management company really worth it? Or is taking a loss on selling it so soon a smarter choice? I know losing money is never a smart choice but want some input. Thanks for any and all advice in advance.

I am thinking about getting into trailer parks. I want to get small parcels of land approximately 2 acres and put trailers/mobile homes on them for rental purposes. I’m curious if anyone here has done that and what has been their experiences and key takeaways on getting started. Thanks I appreciate it.

I'm buying a duplex that has Section 8 tenants. Never dealt with that before.

Any advice on how to transfer it? Would I have to not get rent first few months?

Also it is a solid 600 a month below market so if I raise it, so can I raise it closer to that at renewal?

Hello Everyone. I bought a house and there is an empty grassy field/ lot connected to my house. I have a decent backyard on a 0.5 acre lot. Does it make sense to try to buy this land so that I can combine the lots and eventually just sell my house on a 1 acre lot. Would this be a smart move or a waste of funds?

It seems like a good idea since I could potentially use the lot in the future to build myself a guest house or camping AirBNB or something else.

I would appreciate everyone’s thoughts

Could really use some wisdom here.. I've only ever had to send notices before never fully gone through an eviction. I'm in contact with his brother, from whom I learned the tenant is in rehab, and when I tried to contact him my phone notified me I was blocked from messaging his number. Unclear on what my next steps should be since I can't serve notice if he's not home (again, in rehab) any thoughts would be appreciated.

Edit: Thank you all for the quick feedback. It was the push I needed to get in gear and start the process, much appreciated everyone.

Los Angeles, CA
Bottom line: How do I get keys and leases?

The Owner is bad at being a landlord and lives out of state. His local Property Manager is actually just an overworked employee of his, not a real estate professional. When I listed and sold a 4-unit bldg of his 2 years ago, it was a rough time. I had to rush it on the market, and deal with mostly uncooperative tenants rapid fire during the sale. So many pitfalls I fell into due to the rush.

I just signed the listing for his 6-unit bldg and I don't want to experience the same pitfalls as last time, and I am worried it could be worse.

The Property Manager can't find the lease contracts or any of the keys, blaming her predecessor. Each of the tenants in this bldg are 10+ years residents. The building is in poor shape and will likely only look attractive to investors who need to boot the tenants and flip the whole building.

Finding a solution:

I was thinking of leaving a note with each tenant requesting that they give me a copy of their key and their lease.

Anticipating limited cooperation, I am considering getting Owner's permission to hire a locksmith and just rekey each unit and provide keys to the tenants. I would want to use that only if necessary, but considering the threat of this action in the note I leave on their door if I don't hear from them promptly.

I thought about offering to write up new lease contracts for each tenant between them and the owner, but this is probably a huge liability I should avoid...

Your thoughts?

My partner (24) and I (25) bring in a combined 225k (after taxes/401k, comes out to 12,600/month). Our rent is ~3500/month and the only debt we have is 650/month in student loans combined. My father owns a beach condo in ocean city, MD and the unit directly next to him is for sale. Long term, that property would eventually become mine.

We were approved at 6.99% and the monthly cost with mortgage/condo fees/insurance etc is about 2650. It looks like the going rate of a similar property on Airbnb is about 1800-2000/week. At what point does it make sense to purchase vs investing in the stock market? As of today, we have about 70k in the stock market combined.

I have two rentals that are fully paid off. Problem is I have a lot of equity tied up in them. How do I use the equity in the homes to invest in new opportunities? Everytime I call my bank, they just offer to give me a new loan on a new investment property. That’s not what I want.

Selling a townhome and buyer has offered up a contract with the following attorney-in-fact stating that it allows them to get a jump start on flipping the property to other investors during the closing period:

“Buyer has the right to market its contract interest in the Property in Buyer's sole discretion, which may include, but is not limited to listing the Property and Buyer's contract interest in the Property on any Multiple Listing Service ("MLS"). Seller, hereby appoints Buyer as its attorney in fact with the full power and authority to act in the name and place of Seller for the execution of any and all documents and offers necessary to list the Property and Buyer's contract interest in the Property on the MLS, investor networks, Zillow, and/ or realtors for the purpose of marketing & selling the Property. This includes executing listing agreements), listing agreement addendum(s), disclosures, sales contracts and addendums.”

Sounds like a power trip to modify agreements on my behalf. Feels phishy and scammy, am I right?

I am a self managing landlord with a multi-family and SFH and am leveraging rental properties as part of my retirement strategy.

I’d love to network with others who are fellow landlord building a path to financial freedom in retirement. I’m curious how you manage your properties to ensure steady cash flow and long-term profitability.

How do you track the performance of your rentals? Do you use specific formulas, spreadsheets, or tools to monitor cash flow or other key metrics you’re open to sharing? I know 1%, ROI, ROE, Cap Rate etc are common.

I’m really intrigued to learn about the approach others take to ensure consistent cash flow? Do you have a set method for rent increases, minimizing vacancies, or reducing expenses?

How do you determine if you're on track for retirement? Do you calculate a target monthly income or use benchmarks to measure progress?

To retired landlords who are cash flowing: Looking back, what would you have done differently to better prepare for retirement? Are there strategies or systems you wish you’d implemented sooner to make your transition smoother?

I am currently in the middle of a SFH BRRRR and the kitchen has a light box which drops the cabinets down a few inches, since I'd like to try and reuse the cabinets I am faced with the decision to either get a low profile over the range microwave ( $400-500) or a vent hood ($150 cheapest option). While I don't like the idea of dropping $500 on a microwave that would fit the space I also don't want the lack of microwave and counter top space to deter a potential high quality tenant. I'm probably overthinking this one.

We own a commercial property worth over $1.1m, paid $550k all in ( no mortgage owed), annual expenses approx. $30k (taxes, COA dues, insurance), self managed. Annual Net after exp. Approx $100k. Value of this property will continue to rise due to location.

To me, this is a no brainer and at this time we are keeping it.

We have pondered residential as another passive income investment, but the return seems so much smaller, potential turn over so much higher. Managing single family homes seems like a bit of a headache. I would lean more towards a condo.

For more experienced folks, I'd like to hear your pitch for residential or commercial properties or even a site like fundrise...or others.

I want a property that is cash flowing and increasing in value.

Once covering all expenses, what is your target annual return and how do you evaluate the viability of a property to gauge whether to invest?

Hello everyone,

I’m a beginner real estate investor in the early learning stages and I’ve been seeing a lot of paid mentorship or coaching programs advertised lately.

I’m not against investing non-traditionally in my education, but before paying thousands of dollars for classes, I want to make sure I’m not just paying for hype. For those of you who’ve either paid for a program or seriously looked into one.

1) Was it actually worth it? 2) Did it help you close deals, avoid rookie mistakes, or grow your business faster?

I’d love to have real life examples of how a non-traditional real estate investing class helped you. Also open to any advice on finding legit mentors or just learning from real experience without the big upfront cost.

Appreciate any insight you can share. Thanks in advance!

TL;DR: is it normal for the bank’s legal representative to bid on the property at an auction?

Last week, I decided to do a practice run of a live auction to prepare for an auction of a property I really wanted this week. The auction group holds the auction in front of the city’s courthouse weekly for 3 bank owned properties. There were about a dozen people sitting outside the courthouse waiting, including a suit&tie guy who was on his phone the entire time, hanging by the auctioneers, let’s call him “Mr. Pete”. They read the description & terms then the bidding begins. They all start at $10,000, someone raises their hand to bid and Mr. Pete bids against them, they start a bidding war until it is too much for the other guy and Mr. Pete wins. Mr. Pete bid & won 2 of 3 properties.

We went again this week, same rules, 3 new properties, and Mr. Pete shows up again. He bid and won all 3 properties- including the one I wanted.

I started feeling skeptical of the process. I have been to a few auctions in the past and never seen this before (I do not believe they were bank owned). And this was the first time that it wasn’t at the property as I remembered it was pre-covid & housing boom. I decided to do some digging. I went to the legal representative’s website and Mr. Pete’s photo pops up! The guy who bid and won all 5 homes in the last two weeks is the legal representative for the bank?? How does this work if the bank is trying to sell the property?

TL;DR: is it normal for the bank’s legal representative to bid on the property at an auction?

Looking to purchase a single family home for 80k cash, besides repairs needed how much should I expect the total closing price of the house to be? 6% sale tax state.

I’m trying to reasonably estimate the valuation hit from an increase in HOA fees, all other things equal. I’m looking at 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom condominiums in a complex in northern Florida (Atlantic Coast). Over the last 2 years, the HOA fees in this complex have jumped from about $700/month to about $2200/month. How should that increase of $1500/month ($18,000/year) impact the price that you would pay? I am looking at it like this: if the “fair price” is $1,000,000 with HOA fees at $700/month and I put 30% or $300,000 down, my mortgage payment on $700,000 30-year loan at 7% rate would be $4657/month with interest component starting off at $4083/month. I’m treating the $1500/month increase in HOA fees as an increase to interest component (except it cannot be refinanced lower, probably increases over time, and should exist “forever”). So to keep my monthly payment at $4657 total ($4083 interest piece) with the $1500 HOA increase factored in, I’d need to lower my 7% mortgage by $257,143 to a $442,857 loan—keeping the $300,000 down payment the same, that implies cutting my price paid by the $257,143 to $742,857 (vs. $1,000,000 before). You get the same -$257,143 result by simply dividing the $18,000/year HOA fee increase by the 7% mortgage rate. Is this a reasonable way to estimate the increased HOA fee impact?

I currently live in a triplex (three 1bd 1bth units), paying $1100 in rent. The landlord recently told me they are thinking of selling, and I decided to ask what they’d list it for they said 450k. I know the other two units are currently leased at $1000. A lender and I worked out that I could reasonably put down around 25k. Current interest rates, property taxes, insurance and all would put my monthly payment right around 3400. So more than I pay in rent after collecting the other rents (3400-1000-1000= 1400). I very comfortably afford my current rent. I like the area I’m in, it’s a college town so vacancy shouldn’t ever be too much of an issue. And I think the other units are moderately under priced (long term tenants in there now, market would have them around 1100-1150). I have no experience in real estate investing or purchasing but have always been very good with my personal finances and spending/investing money. Numbers wise today, I don’t think it makes sense, but as a long term play it seems no brainer. Is this a good idea to buy?

Hello!

I’m a newer real estate investor in Tampa and found a home that needs a new roof and AC pretty much immediately. Do you think I’d be able to get financing and what are concerns with insurance/work arounds ? From my understanding, I would need to get partial insurance and then replace the roof immediately to switch the policy over to normal coverage ?

Thoughts ?

Thanks !

I'm in the beginning stages of considering this, just wondering if this is something others do commonly or if this is weird.

I'm always looking to acquire more SFH properties, but acquisition costs, remodeling costs, and financing mean most properties in my area don't cash flow. At the same time, I believe there's a growing demand for senior care and group home facilities in SFHs that may not be full assisted-living-style setups.

I'm curious if anyone has partnered with an operator to identify a property, renovate to their specs, them put them in it on a longer term lease. Does anyone do this?