All Forum Posts by: Carissa Atendido

@Aristotle Kumpis this was my plan. But based on current market conditions and rents- 4-5 years will still make me in the negative. I'd have to hold it for 6 years to break even and then another 10 years to make a decent profit. That didnt sense for a good investment. Coincidentally my finances changes causing me to pull out. So i guess it worked out 

 Hey Nicholas, 

Thanks so much for your response. To answer your question on why not just invest locally - I live in South Florida where it's very expensive and am trying to stay within my budget of under $300K. In addition to the prices of properties down here being expensive, the HOA's make it even more unaffordable. Pretty much any property that's for sale down here will have an HOA of $400 minimum and upwards of $950+/month. That's insane. And like property taxes, HOA fees always tend to go up every year.

My biggest regret of my life (to date) is selling the first house that I bought and lived in for 5 years in 2018 before buying the house I currently own now. I had about a 3.5% interest rate and only owed $85K - I sold it and the proceeds just sat in my bank account losing value every day. This is why I want to invest - to make my money work for me - even if that's through appreciation over time vs immediate cash flow. 

The property in San Antonio just didn't make sense financially after digging a little deeper in the analysis. Plus my financial situation changed causing me to back out of this deal all together (story for another time lol). 

Net net - maybe this property wasn't meant for me and hoping another one may present itself in the future. In the meantime, I'm still on the look out for my next deal.

@V.G Jason thanks for your response. I'm honestly questioning real estate investing as a whole now. Don't get me wrong. I learned a lot from this experience. But I'm now thinking maybe it's best to just invest in the market- S&P 500 will get me better returns in just a few years vs waiting 10-15 years 

@Jeremy Horton In this market HOW do I find properties that make sense? I feel like I'm spinning and always end up finding properties that are in the red. Is it not through MLS? Is it wholesalers? Am I looking in the wrong spots?

@Ken M. What's the best way to assume and prove appreciation in a market? 

@Rick Pozos yes, but there's still the $30K in walk in equity. Plus I plan to hold this for up to 4-5 years - by that time - the property would have appreciated more and hopefully enough where I recoup my initial investment . 
I've been any listing deals for what seems like forever and never made a move becuase I was looking for the perfect deal. From what Ive learned, the perfect deal doesn't exist and if I wait around trying to find it, I'll be on the sidelines forever. For my first investment, I wanted it to be as turnkey as possible or knowing that's I don't have the stomach (yet) for a rehab project. 

@Jules Aton it's a motivated seller that moved out of this home and moved back to their home state. 

I'm currently under contract (still within the inspection period) on a SFH in San Antonio, TX — 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,565 sq ft, built in 2019.

The biggest reason I pulled the trigger on this deal is the walk-in equity. Based on comps and conservative estimates, the home is valued between $258K–$260K. My offer was accepted at $230K, and I’m hoping to negotiate that down further after inspections.

This isn’t a cash flow play — I bought it for the equity and long-term potential. That said, I don’t want to bleed cash each month, as that’ll eat into my equity gains.

Here’s the breakdown:

• All-in monthly expenses: ~$1,923
• Rental comps: ~$1,900/month, but realistically I’d need to list at $1,800–$1,815 to be competitive
• Estimated monthly loss: ~$108/month (or ~$1,296/year)
• Negative CoC return: ~-2.23%

The neighborhood is solid with a lot of new construction nearby and clear signs of growth. My plan is to hold for 4–5 years, hopefully see some appreciation, and then sell to roll the gains into 1–2 more properties.

My concern is that rents in this area may not rise fast enough to eliminate the cash flow loss — and I don’t want to be stuck with a negative cash flow property longer than expected.

I’ve already sunk about $1,000 into inspections, travel, and the option fee — which I know is a sunk cost at this point. But I’d rather lose $1K now than thousands later if this turns out to be a bad deal.

My questions for the community:

• Is this type of negative cash flow (for an equity play) fairly normal in year one?
• Would you proceed with a deal like this in a growth market?
• What factors would make this a “still worth it” situation vs. a “run while you can” one?

Appreciate any advice, feedback, or gut checks. 🙏

 Hi Dylan, 

I have family in Katy and in Austin. I am in it for the equity - curious, why do you suggest using a Property Manager if for the equity vs cash flow? As for self-managing, how do you suggest I look and list for potential tenants? Using software like Avail? Related to that, how do I manage the showings if Avail for instance doesn't offer this service? I feel like the only want to do this is to hire a property management company to handle the initial lease which will cost me 1 months rent and then I can self manage from there using softwares like Avail. What do you think about this approach?

Thank you!

@Nicholas L. I haven't seen the property yet. If my offer is accepted I'll fly out to be there for the inspection. I am running my numbers conservatively to the best of my ability. I'm in it for the equity and not so much cash flow at this point . Cash flow would be icing on the cake .