Monthly Portfolio Report: December 2024
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 December 2024. You can also check out all my previous monthly reports and annual reports.
Property Overview
My string of fully occupied months came to a close in December, as the tenant at Property #5 vacated. This tenant had been in place since shortly after I bought the property in 2019, and despite his somewhat bizarre multi-year refusal to sign a new lease, he stayed in the property on a month-to-month basis for years, paid the rent on time, and took good care of the property. I was sorry to see him go.
The turn scope included paint, some plumbing items, landscaping, and other miscellany. I also made some capital improvements, including new LVP flooring to replace the carpeted bedrooms, a new water heater, and new storm doors. All told, the maintenance cost was over $5K, plus another $5K in CapEx. Not cheap.
The good news is that the new asking rent for the property will be $1,450/mo., nearly $250 higher than I was previously receiving. Despite the cost of this turn, the property is very well-positioned for cash flow going forward.
Rental Income
Nearly full collections this month. I gave back last month’s “bonus” rent (December rent was credited to my account in November), but the retention of the security deposit at Property #5 nearly offset this.
Expenses
This screenshot comes from RentalHero, the online accounting tool I use for my portfolio.
Here’s the story on my expenses this month:
Maintenance & Repairs: It was a very expensive month for maintenance costs, of course, thanks largely to the rent-ready scope at Property #5. I also had a typical amount of other costs across my portfolio.
Tenant Chargeback: I had an expense charged back to a tenant, which will be refunded to me when the tenant pays my PM for the chargeback.
Utilities: This reflects the utilities turn-on charges for my vacant property.
The Bottom Line
My financial model currently projects my Memphis portfolio to generate $9,614 of positive cash flow in an average month. This month, my cash flow was $5,755, nearly $4K behind my target. The main culprit in my shortfall here is, of course, the cost of the rent-ready work at my vacant property.
Here’s the final cash flow figures and graph for 2024. The dotted blue line indicates my projected average monthly cash flow for my portfolio in each given month. Though I made up some ground in the fall, the summer was too challenging to overcome, and I ended up more than $10K in the red compared to projected cash flow. Still, my total cash flow for the year was over $100K+ for the 2nd consecutive year:
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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.
