6.5 years later - how has my "turnkey" rental turned out?

[Michael K Gallagher]

Many here know my wife and I purchased our house hack, and first investment property in 2018.  I still manage that property today.

We bought the duplex completely flipped, and everything brand new...So I should have had no issues to this point right?

That's sometimes the expectation, and it could not be further from the truth, so here's an idea of some things that went wrong or needed fixed on a "turnkey" fully flipped property.

- Right after moving in couldn't get the furnace to kick on, turns out the dropped a thread protector from the gas piping in the top and it was lodged in the fan and it couldn't pull a vaccum - $65 issue.  Have had two instances of the furnace in that same unit going out, both times cause a bird flew into the exhaust and lodged its head into the fan.

- AC in my unit that we lived in went out twice while there in year 1, maybe year 2, spent about $800 to have it pressure tested (lesson learned here most home warranty companies are garbage and do not cover testing your HVAC so idk how you trouble shoot it without testing it, but the testing and refrigerant are not generally included) chased a leak for a month and ended up having them replace the line-set to the system for $1400.

- AC in the other unit went out a year or two after that, was not a big issue, just needed one of those jump starter things, and some refrigerant, but was about a $800 fix to get it done on a weekend.

- Roof vents were not secured correctly, so that lead to a leak into one unit when it shifted, was about $750 to get the vents secured and have additional ones added to bring it up to proper number.

- Still need to get the gutters done, they need cleaned and one of them doesn't drain as it should.

- Main water line and entire meter popped off the main supply line and had an unimpeded 1" water line dumping into the basement on mother's day, was about $1400 to fix, and basically an afternoon of waiting around for city and fire dept to turn on/off water at curb.  Also, know where that turn off is at the curb and have it accessable, mine had been buried at some point probably years ago and it took longer to find then actually fix the issue.

- have had 7 different sets of tenants between the two sides of the duplex, all except 1 has been amazing.  That tenant was habitually late of rent, pretty sure her BF was selling weight out the unit because they got targeted by a shooting, how one side of a duplex "randomly" gets hit with bullets, and another doesn't...yea not random.  But honestly I only ended up out about $800 in lost rent by the time she paid her last month late and left a **** ton of belongings in the unit.  But even her wasn't all that big a deal.

SO why the hell am I telling you all this.....There's alot of hype on here and in real estate in general, and that's great hype is what gets us to pull the trigger and try something uncomfortable, but its important to understand that even "turnkey" properties are going to have issues, and that while they may be annoying in the moment to deal with over the long term the really mean nothing.  

almost 7 years and I've spent roughly $6K on repairs, lost rents maybe a bit more if you throw the 60 days of vacancy in there that I got from trying to work with cmha but thats a whole other podcast as they say.

Point is, I'd do it again all day every day, $6K is less than 3 months or rent for that building, and I'm sure its appreciated multiples of that number by now as well.  

[Brian Teeter]

Thats an amazing run: Seven years and only $6K! Ive been operating as a Turnkey / BRRR provider in Little Rock, Arkansas for ten years. Not sure about other markets, but here, we offer a warranty on all repairs within our SOW, post sale. We also strongly advise all buyers to get an independent inspection pre-close. Further, we typically continue on with the buyer as their property manager. All of these efforts (warranty, inspection and ongoing PM relationship) help build trust, confidence, accountability and connectivity post sale). I strongly advise buyers to look some of these things in a provider, whatever market they invest. BUT, you are right, its inevitable, no matter the product: "properties are going to have issues, and that while they may be annoying in the moment to deal with over the long term the really mean nothing."

I would like to add in the asset appreciation aspect.  I think a lot of investors lose sight of appreciation and instead focus on cash flow. But thats a huge part of the equation.  So if you're going 7 years, steady occupancy, below average repairs PLUS appreciation = WINNING!