All Forum Posts by: Dan Bottiglieri

When you are finding your monthly net cash flow, are property management, maintenance, utilities, capex, etc percentages of gross rent, or percentages of your gross cash flow (net rent - PITI)? I usually say 8% for pm, 5% maintenance (depending on the current state of the property), 5% capex, etc but should those be a percentage of gross rents, or gross cash flow?

Thanks a ton!

I’m looking for a better understanding of what’s it is like being a college rental landlord. I think this is the strategy for me, I’m willing to take on a little more risk for higher rent revenue potential by renting by the room in college markets. With that said, in your experience what is the toughest/most annoying aspect of this strategy? Is it dealing with college kids, maintenance, etc.

@Anthony King

Awesome advice thank you very much

@Anthony King

This was exactly what I was looking for, thank you for your help! With that being said, this also means you can’t truly get a 100% accurate analysis of a potential property without going to see it and getting the ages of all these expenses right?

@Greg M.

Ok I see, I didn't understand that % of rent rule that I've heard either, for exactly the reason you gave these expenses will be the same regardless of rent.  So it really varies house to house then there's not really a rule of thumb? 

Hi everyone, what percentage of my monthly rents should I be putting aside for future expensive repairs like roof, furnace etc.? For example, if my rent revenue was $2,000/month with $1,000 going towards mortgage, what others expenses do you factor in to arrive at cash flow?

Hi BiggerPockets,

How do you pick the location of a rental property? It's tough for me to choose a specific market because I'm not sure how big renting is in that particular market.  I like college rentals a lot because of the huge tenant pool, however, how do I know if I'll be able to find tenants in a non-college town? It sounds like an odd question, but I can never gauge the rent demand, when I think of a blue-collar neighborhood I think of people looking to buy, not rent.  

@Nick B.

Ok so if I put down 3,500 on a 100,000 house that cash flows 500/month ($6000 a year) and by the end of the year my equity has grown to 4,500, my total cash on cash return as a percentage of my 4,500 equity that year would be 75%? 4500/6000?

@Nathan Gesner Sounds good, I appreciate your help thank you.

What is an ideal baseline cash flow for a rental property?  I believe Brandon Turner says he shoots for $100, I've heard other say $500, even some say $700+, I'd love to hear more opinions on this.