Monthly Portfolio Report: July 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 July 2024. You can also check out all my previous monthly reports and annual reports.
Property Overview
I continued to churn through some turns this summer, with two vacancies during the month of July.
The first was at Property #7, following big expensive turn that I described in last month’s report. A new tenant moved in on August 10th, so we’re back to normal operations now, but this turn was a body blow! The silver lining is that I was able to raise the rent up to market rate ($1,150), vs. the previous tenant who was paying $895.
Property #12 was also vacant in July, but only for a few weeks. After a quick & efficient turn, a new tenant moved in on July 26th.
This means that as of August, I was back to 100% occupied! Let’s hope that holds for the rest of the year.
Rental Income
I had an overage in collections this month due to the retention of a security deposit for the turn at Property #7.
I have two tenants who are unpaid for August, and unfortunately may enter eviction proceedings in the coming days. Both are long-term tenants with a history of late payments, so there’s still a reasonable chance they’ll get caught up.
Expenses
This screenshot comes from RentalHero, the online accounting tool I use for my portfolio.
Some detail on my expenses this month:
Maintenance & Repairs: I budget ~$3K per month in M&R, so they were a bit high this month. I had some routine plumbing and HVAC visits, but the biggest expense was $2,500 to remove a huge fallen limb of a neighbor’s tree that fell on Property #6. And that’s not the end of that story, either, because the tree causes significant damage to the house that cost $16K to fix. Insurance should cover all but $5K of these costs (that’s my deductible), but still…not great.
Property Management: higher than normal due to a $770 leasing fee for the new tenant placement at Property #12.
Utilities: This is for the ongoing vacancies at several properties.
Tenant Chargeback: This was an expense deemed to be the tenant’s responsibility. I pay for it upfront, but once the tenant pays my PM, I’m reimbursed for the cost.
The Bottom Line
My financial model currently projects my Memphis portfolio to generate $9,332 of positive cash flow in an average month. This month, my cash flow was $7,985, just over $1K short of my target. This is primarily due to the higher-than-normal maintenance expenses.
This year has so far been relatively expensive, both in regular maintenance costs (which I tabulate here) and CapEx (which I don’t, waiting to include them in my annual reports). Unfortunately, August will feature more of the same as I deal with the fallen tree damage, flooring replacements at three different properties, and various other needed repairs. It’s likely that this will be the toughest year I’ve had yet in my portfolio, even if the Sept-Dec period is relatively quiet. But it’s like they say: if you’re going through hell, keep going!
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 continue to be in a pretty big hole for the year, more than $9K behind my year-to-date target.
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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.
