All Forum Posts by: Annelise A.

or god only knows how many applications at 25 bucks each?? if they jsut take 2 applications each month and deny those applicants, they've already made better money than renting out the apartment and collecting their 10%..crazy right??

It sounds like a conspiracy almost, doesn't it?

I agree that you get what you pay for. That saying is the same for almost everything... with a few exceptions.

Thank you for all the feedback... horror stories and all :D

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I was curious if any of yall had worked with property management companies and if so, what your experiences were?

I'm looking to be investing in more and more properties and want to "outsource" them to maximize my time in other areas.

Thanks!

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We're planning on buying up houses in Vegas (our second home) and slowly building up the neighborhoods that have gone to hell in a montana.

Then, I'd like buy some stock... Warren Buffet style... buy and hold for 5 years.

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Happy Friday, Phil!

It's always nice to have more BP friends.

Glad you finally signed up :)

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Originally posted by J Scott:

If you like the bucket approach, here's another way to approach it, with 4 buckets:

1. Immediate Expenses: These are your monthly expenses, such as mortgage, utilities, property management, taxes, insurance, etc. This bucket should be immediately and always be funded with 2 months worth of estimated expenses (refill each month with what was actually spent to ensure you always have 2 months in there).

2. Short-Term Expenses: This is your maintenance budget. Set aside funds in this bucket every month until you have at least 1 month of gross rent set aside. This should suffice to cover short-term maintenance if the property is in good shape; if the property is in rough shape, set aside 2-3 months worth of gross rents in this bucket. Every time you eat into this bucket, refill to the 1 month (or 2-3 month) mark.

3. Long-Term Expenses: These are your capital expenses. In general, I think of capital costs as Roof, HVAC, and "Surprise". On a typical one of my houses, I will spend about $4000 every 20 years on a new roof, $3000 every 20 years on new HVAC and about $5000 every 20 years on Surprises (Plumbing, Electrical, Termites, etc). That's $12K I need to save every 20 years, or about $600/year or about $50/month. So, I would take $50/month and put it in this bucket. If your roof or HVAC is closer to end-of-life than 20 years right now, save more, as you'll hit the replacement time sooner. Figure out your estimated capital costs, and save every single month the pro-rated amount into this bucket for as long as you own the property.

4. Emergency Funds: This is for emergencies. For example, if you go a couple months without a tenant and need to pay your own mortgage and utilities. In general, you should probably keep 3 months worth of total expenses in this bucket, unless you reasonably think you may need more. If you ever spend anything out of this bucket, replenish to the 3 month mark.

Once you have all those buckets filled to their maximum point (other than the Long-Term Expenses, which you keep filling every month), you should be able to safely take the additional money you have coming in and allocate it to other projects, salary, etc.

Btw, notice that the 3 buckets (other than the Long-Term Expenses) total about 6 months worth of gross rent. In general, I think this is the right amount to keep in reserves (plus the Long-Term funds), regardless of how you break it down into buckets.

I am all for adding buckets... especially when adding another one makes so much sense. Thanks for sharing J.

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The 3 buckets idea was a spur of the moment thought and it always bothered me that I didn't put copious amounts of thought and research into the whole idea. Even though I secretly want a Doodad bucket, you're right... it will put me behind. I'm waiting for my 3rd investment property to get a doodad bucket.

My hopes are to find any holes in my game and plug them. Or if there aren't any holes, I'm sure there's something to tighten up my savings plan.

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I'm thankful that you are all thankful for your babies/grandbabies/spouses and lives!

I am also thankful for Tofurkey. I love Tofurkey.

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Hey Pao! So glad to meet a fellow RE Novice. I'm looking forward to reading what you have to share :) Happy Tuesday.

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I've been dividing my monthly rental income into 3 buckets.

Bucket 1 goes into repairs for the property
Bucket 2 goes into the mortgage payment
Bucket 3 goes into future investment savings (MM acct due to higher interest %)

I bring this up because it's frustrating. There has to be a more efficient way to responsibly divvy up my monthly rental income.

What is your strategy with your monthly income?

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https://www.richdad.com/Secure/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/RichDad/Member/WebGame/WebGameLink.aspx?m=webgame&m=webgame

This is the game Robert Kiyosaki and his wife created.

I started playing this game before I bought my first investment property and to my surprise, it had real life application! In the game, I over leveraged my money and went bankrupt a few times. Thankfully, it's just a game :wink: and I learned some great financial lessons.

Have you played, yet? If you have played, what did you learn from it?

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All Forum Posts by: Annelise A.

Annelise A. has started 7 posts and replied 51 times.

Post: Property Management Companies?

Post: Property Management Companies?

Post: What are your Investing Goals for 2011?

Post: Finally Signing Up From Atlanta ;)

Post: What to do with rental income?

Post: What to do with rental income?

Post: What are you Thankful for?

Post: Greetings from Milwaukee, WI

Post: What to do with rental income?

Post: Ca$hFlow Game... have you won, yet?