Monthly Portfolio Report: March 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 March 2024. You can also check out all my previous monthly reports and annual reports.
Property Overview
I was fully occupied this month, with the new tenant at Property #13 in place as of March 8th (as described in last month’s report).
I have several upcoming turns, however. The first one will be at Property #23, where I’ve just retaken possession of the house following an eviction. Then, there are two other properties whose tenants have given their notice-to-vacate, one on June 1st and the other on July 1st. It’s much preferable for tenants to vacate with advance notice, as these tend to be much more orderly turns, with (hopefully) lower costs.
Rental Income
I still have a non-paying tenant in the eviction process at Property #23, which hurts my collections. This will be the last month of this, however, since I’ve recently re-taken possession of the house which will allow me to get it ready for a new tenant. Also, I’ll be credited next month with the large security deposit (2 months’ rent), which should soften the blow significantly.
As I mentioned last month, I also had an accounting situation at one property where I was credited two months of rent in February, leading to no rent in March — this also hurt my collections rate. This should go back to the normal cadence going forward.
Expenses
This screenshot comes from RentalHero, the online accounting tool I use for my portfolio.
It was a pretty typical month of expenses. Here are the highlights:
Maintenance & Repairs: I had a small piece of rent-ready work from the turn at Property #13, and several other typical maintenance issues including a fallen tree, a bathtub leak, and a shower diverter repair.
Property Management: My PM fees were higher than normal this month because they included the $700 leasing fee for placing a new tenant following the turn at Property #13, as well as a renewal fee at Property #17.
Legal Fees: These were associated with the eviction at Property #23.
Tenant Chargeback: I showed a negative expense here because I was reimbursed for a previous tenant charge (this happens when the tenant pays the bill to my PM).
The Bottom Line
My financial model currently projects my Memphis portfolio to generate $9,074 of positive cash flow in an average month. This month, my cash flow was $8,608, just a few hundred dollars short of my pro forma. Full occupancy helped me, while lower collections and higher PM fees hurt me — but I ended up very close to my target.
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. March was a solid month, but I now sit nearly $3K below my cumulative cash flow target for the year. Hopefully I can make that up as the year moves forward:
Free Rental Property Analyzer
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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.
