February was a much calmer than last month; this was much appreciated after the countless repairs and barely turning a profit. In fact, this was a very quite month on the landlord front. Perhaps, this was the universe’s gift to me as I turned another year older in February. Either way, I am not complaining.
My rental property portfolio had a near record month. The only thing that did not go right was that rental property #4 is STILL dealing with zoning issues. I hope to resolve the zoning ‘problem’ soon and cannot share all the details.
The Landlord Report- February 2018
Hello there – welcome to another “Landlord Report”. This monthly report will share my experiences as a landlord. The report will show EVERYTHING related to my rental properties and life as a landlord….
I will discuss the rents that I collected, mortgage payments, and other ‘landlord items’. Additional topics may include repairs, finding new tenants and any other items that might randomly pop up. The report will also share how much money I made and the amount of time (hours) I spent being a landlord. I want to show the world being a landlord is a wonderful thing.
Throughout this process I aim to be as transparent as possible. Being a landlord and owning rental property is a wonderful way to earn (mostly) passive income and allow you to buy back your time faster.
I hope you follow along with this monthly series. The Landlord Report can serve as a guide to owning rental property. Please feel free to contact me with any questions – happy to provide insight.
The table below outlines all my income and expenses for the past month:
As you can see, February was a great month for my rental property portfolio. In fact, it was a phenomenal month.
All of the properties had a perfect month. A perfect month means that I collected 100% of the rent and had no expenses other than the mortgage. The ‘expenses’ on rental property #3 are the utility bills.
Being a landlord is not all sunshine and cash flow. But! I still love being a landlord.
Below you will find a detailed account about what happened at each property this month.
Rental Property #1
Rental Property #1 Summary
There was nothing exciting or noteworthy about rental property #1 in February. I love when being a landlord is boring. That usually means everything is going right.
The tenants paid their rent in full and on time. I stopped by on my way home from work. This pit-stop took maybe 10 minutes of my time.
Rental Property #1 Summary
In summary, rental property #1 – earned $381.76* and I spent about 10 minutes managing the property.
My mortgage debt dropped by $744.94 from my monthly mortgage payments. When considering principal reduction, I made $1,126.70.
*Remember – this is an accidental rental that I plan to live in during FIRE.
Rental Property #2
The tenants paid their rent of $4,000 in full and on time. Rent collection required me walking downstairs to get my morning cup of coffee. Does life get any easier than that?
Over the next month we will be looking for two new roommates/tenants to replace the two leaving. I am excited about the upcoming rent bumps associated with the new tenants.
February was also a quite month at rental property #2; there were no maintenance items.
Rental Property #2 Summary
In summary, rental property #2 – earned $1,591.43**. I spent about 10 minutes managing rental property #2 this month.
My mortgage debt decreased $728.41. When factoring paying down my debt, rental property #2 made me $2,319.84.
Not bad for 10 minutes worth of work. Most people don’t make that on a single pay check
**I also live in the house and get paid to live here. Pretty sweet right? House Hacking is awesome.
Rental Property #3
After all the headaches at rental property #3 last month – I am glad to announced the only expenses were the utilities. I did not have any maintenance items to address.
Gas Bill: $267.62
Water Bill: $143.83
Electric for unit: $63.34
In summary, rental property #3 – earned $1,341.13 and I spent about 10 minutes of my time managing this property.
Rental Property #3’s mortgage debt also decreased $409.41. When factoring in paying down my debt I made $1,750.54.
Portfolio Summary
In summary, I spent about 30 minutes of my time maintaining my rental property portfolio.
This was a great month for my rental portfolio. I dream of perfect months and they happen more often than people realize.
In February, my rental properties provided me with a positive cash flow of $3,314.32. What is even more impressive was the time commitment; I spent less than an hour managing my properties.
My mortgage debt decreased $1,882.76 last month which further increased my net worth.
Factoring in repayment of debt and cash flow, my rental properties earned $5,197.08. Being a landlord and owning a rental property portfolio is great. What is your excuse for not owning a rental property?
Nice month it took me 14yrs to get numbers like that! have you thought about a year to date tab on your chart?
I have not. Would love to hear more of what you are thinking.
Excuse for not buying a rental yet… we’re saving for a down payment now!!! Looking forward to joining the ranks and bugging you with all my questions someday 😉
I welcome the plethora of questions. Can’t wait to see you make the leap.
Great recap. And I’m glad to see a better month for you vs. last month’s excitements!
Question – do you have plans to (or have you in the past) utilized ALL of a property’s monthly profits to go toward accelerating the debt pay down? How do you decide how much / when to pay down any extra property debt?
Again, thanks for sharing. It’s a very interesting perspective vs. my traditional REIT and now growing crowd funding approach. – Mike
Great question Mike! I don’t have plans to accelerate debt pay down. My interest rates are all between 3.5%-4.25% – don’t see a benefit in paying down the debt when funds are cheap. I rather invest elsewhere. I can go buy dividend stocks that pay me 3.5% or get 8% annually from the S&P.
The only exception to that is rental property #1 which I may live in again and a line of credit that I have.
Woo hoo! Glad to hear the universe gifted you a quiet month for your birthday.
Although that’s frustrating you still don’t have the zoning figured out with your 4th property. Get it together, DC!
Great moth! I’m not doing as well. I have a vacancy!
Congrats on a nice month. Let’s hope it keeps rolling 🙂
My cash flow isn’t as good as it should be but still increasing my equity so all is good. Great report once again!
Wow, what an awesome month! Congrats
“What is your excuse for not owning a rental property?” Well I think you know that now. 🙂 congrats on a great month!