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 September 2022. You can also check out all my previous monthly reports and annual reports.

Property Overview

With both my recent turns complete and new tenants in place, I’m now back to 100% occupancy! It’s unlikely I will have any further turns this year (though you never know…)

Rents

Collections were perfect this month — not much to report, which we like!

My rent charged was a bit lower this month, because my new tenant at Property #16 only owed their pro-rated second month ($150 instead of a full month’s rent of $1,695). This will rebound next month.

Expenses

Here are the highlights with my expenses this month:

Maintenance & Repairs: Just a few issues across the portfolio this month, so costs were pretty low. I also got a $75 refund on a piece of work from a turn last year that was never completed: the satellite dish on the roof (placed by a previous tenant) was supposed to have been removed, but in photos from a recent Occupied Home Inspection, I noticed that the dish was still there. I asked for, and received, a refund from my property manager for the line-item cost of that work.
Utilities: Even MORE utility bills from my last two turns. At one property in particular, the total utility costs have been exorbitant — nearly $1,500 in total during the turn! My PM says this was due to an ongoing water leak in the inbound piping, which is now corrected, and they’re attempting to get an accommodation from the local utility company. We’ll see if that succeeds…not holding my breath.

The Bottom Line

My financial model currently projects my Memphis portfolio to generate $7,193 of positive cash flow in an average month. This month, my cash flow was $7,933, or ~$750 in excess of my projected average. I was hurt by almost no rent being collected at Property #16, but helped by full occupancy everywhere else, and by relatively low maintenance costs this month.

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. Total cash flow for the year now stands above $50K, and I clawed back another small piece of my deficit vs. projections for the year —but it’s a big hill to climb. I will almost certainly fall short for the year, and will have to evaluate the causes for that in my annual report and make any necessary adjustments and/or mitigations.

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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.