February 10, 2013

2012 Passive Income: Rental Property

Its been several years since I did a thorough analysis of our rental property performance and investment return. Here is an analysis of our 3 rental properties for 2012 that should give a pretty reasonable view of how these investments...
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March 13, 2012

Why Invest in Rental Property

The real estate investing infomercials of the housing boom suggest that real estate could make you rich - the benefit of real estate being exponential returns of your investment. While I only have a few small real estate investments there...
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September 27, 2011

Rental Property Investment Breakdown

Here is some overdue financial record keeping from our latest rental investment in August 2011. This breaks down all our out of pocket costs to purchase the property and get the 1st tenant in place. Out of Pocket Investment in...
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August 15, 2011

Thoughts On Buying Another Property In This Environment

We recently put a contract on a property to serve as an expansion to our rental properties. We weren't looking to expand, but an opportunity popped up that was compelling enough for us to make an offer. As we have...
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July 29, 2011

Put a Contract on Property #4

I had no plans to expand our rentals, but market conditions have drove us to action. A property went up for sale in the same neighborhood (with nearly identical characteristics) as our 1st property that we currently have been renting...
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August 29, 2010

Observations from Re-Renting Rental #1

I just went through the most stressful and time consuming rental turnover I have had since I began renting out Rental #1 5 years ago. Rental markets as with real estate are very localized, but I figured I would share...
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April 25, 2010

An Updated Snapshot of our Household Debt

Here's a better breakdown of our debt than I typically report in our monthly net worth report. In the past 12 months our debt has improved significantly as we sold my wife' townhouse and focused the majority of our free...
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September 10, 2009

Positive Cash Flow on Rental Property

A rental question from a reader: ....do you have positive cash flow on all your rentals? The reason I ask is that my wife and I have 20% for a home and are not sure we would cover the mortgage...
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June 22, 2009

Finally Able to Raise the Rent

Back in 2005 I converted the first house I bought into a rental property. I have made good progress in my journey to a $2million net worth since then, but I have had this nagging little worry that has been...
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February 17, 2009

Early Turnover on Rental House #2

We had our first lease breakage on a rental property at the beginning of the year. The tenants had moved into House #2 in August on a 1 year lease and everything was working extremely well. The tenants were very...
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September 2, 2008

Canceling the Management Company on Rental #1

Some might consider this a step backwards, but for the short term I have decided to cancel the management company on Rental #1. I have no complaints about the management company. For 6% of rent collected they basically collected rent,...
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August 29, 2008

ReRenting Rental #1 - The Rental Market Wasn't Good

The tenants moved out of Rental #1 less than 1 month after Rental #2. After re-renting Rental #2 in July I was starting to think that re-renting Rental #1 might not be too bad. After all we re-rented Rental #2...
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August 22, 2008

ReRenting Rental #2 - The Market Was Suprisingly Strong

The 2nd rental house we have became vacant not too long ago. Not only was this the first time I needed to re-rent a house that was being rented, but we were overseas so we needed to orchestrate this remotely....
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February 20, 2008

Lease Agreement Add Ons for Rental Property

I have been renting property for a couple of years now and finding it quite profitable. I am still not an expert but I have learned a few lessons along the way. Here are some things I would recommend that...
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August 20, 2007

Mortgage Escrow Accounts Untimely Adjustments

Last month I converted my 2nd house to a rental property. My mortgage payment was $787 including the mortgage payment and escrow payment for taxes and insurance. I rented the house out for $860/month which covered the monthly payment and...
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July 16, 2007

Management Company for Rental #1

I have been trying to figure out how to handle both rental houses while I am away on assignment. I believe I am ok on Rental #2 (the house I just converted to a rental property) - I made sure...
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June 25, 2007

House #2 Converted to a Rental Property

Another financial milestone occurred this weekend as I moved out and converted the house I bought last year to a rental property. So far so good. I am not receiving anything close to the cash flow of myfirst rental property....
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October 18, 2006

The Real Return on My Rental Property

I have been renting my 1st home for just over a year and now have 12 months of data to look at. Lets see how this investment is fairing. I purchased this property for $160,000 in 2002, lived in it...
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October 5, 2006

Don't Rush When Settling Up on Services Performed

While I was back home getting my HVAC repaired I also had a chimney guy out for the 3rd time trying to get a damper installed in the fireplace. This transaction was off to a good start when the person...
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July 14, 2006

My House Notebook

A lesson learned from my 1st house conversion to a rental property is to get organized now as I buy new house. I have realized I need to keep everything that affects the cost basis of the property in case...
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June 22, 2006

Tax Question - Converting Rental Property to Primary Residence?

I have been trying to understand the implications of renting all or part of my new property while I am on my temporary assignment. I will be away for the rest of the year and hope to rent out some...
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June 19, 2006

FSBO Negotiation Example

When I and the seller negotiated for the FSBO home I am purchasing we did the contract negotiations entirely over email. This gave me a written record of everything that happened and presents a great opportunity to do a post...
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May 1, 2006

Best Rental Property Books

If you are looking for a great source on information on taxes and rental properties, I have some recommendations for you. I have just finished reading both of these books and between the 2 of them I feel they have...
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March 13, 2006

Determining Depreciation Amounts for Rental Property

Earlier I calculated that the total cost basis for my rental property was $162,042.00. I have done some weekend tax reading and it looks like there are several ways to maximize the depreciable parts of my cost basis.Essentially the breakdown...
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March 10, 2006

Calculating Cost Basis for Rental Property

In 2005 I converted my home to a rental propety. In preparation for preparing my taxes this year, I need to establish my cost basis for the property. I paid $160,000 for this property. However, I have read in multiple...
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A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
Current Net Worth: $1,938,393

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