Monthly Portfolio Report: April 2023
One of my goals with Rental Income Advisors is to be as transparent and data-driven as possible with my readers and my coaching clients. I think the best way to build confidence in a new investor is to actually show the numbers, to prove that rental property investing really does work as advertised.
For those reasons, I publish a monthly report on my portfolio’s performance. I hope that this chronological history paints a clear picture of what it’s like to be a remote landlord. It’s also a great exercise for me to be sure I’m staying plugged in to all my numbers.
Here is the update for April 2023. You can also check out all my previous monthly reports and annual reports.
Property Overview
Touching back to last month’s report, the tenant at Property #25 was moved in as of April, so that house moves back to the Occupied column. The new tenant at Property #4 — where I had a lease break and turn this spring — didn’t move in until May, so that was my sole vacancy for April.
I also mentioned two tenant payment issues in the most recent RIA Roundup. First, one of the tenants in my duplex (Property #18) had not paid April rent by late in April, and had not communicated with my PM. But they did eventually pay the rent by the end of the month. But May rent has also yet to come in at the time of writing (May 25th), so clearly this tenant is struggling, and the risk of eviction is still elevated.
The other issue came from the tenant at Property #20, one of the new properties I bought last fall as part of my 1031 exchange. This resident has still failed to pay April rent, and eviction is proceeding — in fact, we already have a court date, which is an encouraging sign that this one may move more quickly that some I’ve experienced in the past.
Also, I asked my PM to review this tenant placement, since I would never expect to see serious nonpayment just a few months after the tenant was placed — that’s a pretty glaring failure of tenant screening. My PM said that they had recently updated their tenant screening standards and procedures, and that this tenant was borderline and would not have qualified under those new rules. In light of that, they agreed to reimburse me the lost rent during the vacancy, which is a very generous accommodation, and goes to show how valuable it is to maintain a strong working relationship with your property manager. So this property will stay “occupied” this year, at least with respect to generating rent (the only definition that matters. ;-)
Rental Income
As mentioned above, I did not collect rent on Property #20 last month (my PMs reimbursement will come at the end of the process, I presume, so I’ll show that additional income in some future month.) That represented a shortfall of over $1,095, but this was mostly offset by retaining the security deposit at Property #3 — that $895 hit my account this month.
Expenses
This screenshot comes from RentalHero, the online accounting tool I use for my portfolio.
Here are the highlights with my expenses this month:
Maintenance & Repairs: I had a couple of large maintenance costs this month that drove my costs higher, including a tub project at Property #1 ($1,500), and a tree removal at Property #3 ($2,100). Typical minor issues made up for the rest of the costs.
Utilities: During turns while properties are vacant, I am responsible for paying the utility bill (or more precisely, my PM pays the bill, and charges me back for it.) This month had utilities costs from both properties where I had vacancies this spring.
The Bottom Line
My financial model currently projects my Memphis portfolio to generate $8,812 of positive cash flow in an average month. This month, my cash flow was $6,854, about $2K under my projected average. Factors that impacted me negatively this month were:
Vacancy at Property #4
Nonpayment at Property #20 (again, I’ll get this back eventually)
Maintenance & Repair costs that exceeded my pro forma by ~$1,600
Finally, here’s the running tally and graph I update each month. The dotted blue line indicates my projected average monthly cash flow for my portfolio in each given month. I’ve now dipped a bit below my cumulative projected cash flow for the year, but I’m still optimistic I can make that up in future months:
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About the Author
Hi, I’m Eric! I used cash-flowing rental properties to leave my corporate career at age 39. I started Rental Income Advisors in 2020 to help other people achieve their own goals through real estate investing.
My blog focuses on learning & education for new investors, and I make numerous tools & resources available for free, including my industry-leading Rental Property Analyzer.
I also now serve as a coach to dozens of private clients starting their own journeys investing in rental properties, and have helped my clients buy millions of dollars (and counting) in real estate. To chat with me about coaching, schedule a free initial consultation.
