Celebrating 20 years of rentals.

[Rob Howard]

Over the past two decades I’ve expanded and contracted the numbers of LTR and STR I’ve kept in my portfolio, but I recently looked at a house I need to renovate a bit and realized that I bought it this week in 2005. That house - in the North Hills neighborhood of Knoxville, had been the object of countless calls, texts, emails and letters from many trying to “help me offload it.” I bought the house as a HUD foreclosure - $50,500. Today the annual rent return is roughly 1/2 what I paid for it. It doesn’t matter what you pay (within reason) - time on task and the power of compounding are the amazing gifts of home ownership!

[William Whitley]

That’s such a great reminder about playing the long game in real estate.

As long as your rent covers expenses and you’re setting aside a solid reserve for big repairs, you don’t need to be cash-flowing a ton right out of the gate. Keep the place well maintained, stay close to market rent, and over time both equity and cash flow tend to take care of themselves.

The best part? As long as you keep vacancy low, your tenants are basically buying the property for you.