When a rental starts to feel like more work than it’s worth

[Alicia Sierra]

I’ve definitely felt this myself lately - as a landlord and from some of my clients' feedback. 

It’s not like a property just stops working overnight. It’s more like it creeps up on you - 

Usually it’s little things stacking up:

• insurance going up
• utilities going up 
• taxes creeping up
• more maintenance than you expected 
• that one terrible tenant move out experience...
• rents not really keeping up

Individually, whatever. Together, you start to notice it.

And I think this is where it gets a little misleading…
a lot of us still look at:  rent – mortgage = “cash flow”. It may still have a big tax benefit but  that’s not really the full picture when you factor in vacancy, bigger repairs, and just the time it takes to deal with everything.  There’s also the part people don’t really talk about - the mental load. At some point it may shift from “this is a good investment” to “this is kind of a lot to keep up with.”

I see it a lot with properties that have appreciated too. Nothing’s wrong with them… but they’re not exactly performing either.
And they just kind of stay in the portfolio because they’ve always been there.

So I guess what I keep coming back to is— when do you ride it out, and when do you let it go?

 Anyone else feeling this and contemplating options?