All Forum Posts by: Nir Heifetz

I agree that opportunity cost says to perhaps sell and re-deploy funds. However, I also believe that investing involves character, and far too many investors are looking for a quick buck, and a scramble to the next thing if it doesn’t work out, and will never develop the character traits (like patience and tenacity to understand a investment category) to become successful investors.

@Nir Heifetz good job reaching out for help. These forums have helped me out a ton, and I hope that you keep coming back. And I also believe you’re getting good feedback that can really help you out, I don’t believe people are here to tear you down, but really to help. You’re not sitting on the sidelines, you took action and bought some real estate, and you also reached out for help, so you should be feeling really good about that. I bet 90% of the people on these forums never get that far. Good job! Just keep learning lessons man, I’ve gotten much thicker skin after being a landlord the last six years. You’re gonna have to get thick skin too if you’re gonna last, which I really hope you do. If you want to sell and lose $ and try to make $ elsewhere, I certainly understand, but I think real estate should be part of almost everybody’s investment portfolio. Hang in there, maybe buy a little bit better next time, and let time do its thing. You’re on a

Thanks, David! To be honest, I’ve had rental properties since 2021, and this is actually my fourth one. The others have appreciated—some more than others, but all have gone up in value.
I think the main challenge in this case has been tenant turnover and the types of tenants I’ve had.

0 Votes

Atlanta, Georgia

Quote from @V.G Jason:

Quote from @Nir Heifetz:

Appreciation in the first year was never my expectation — I’m well aware this is a long-term game.

I’m not here because I’m panicking about short-term performance. I’m here to evaluate whether it makes more sense to continue holding or cut losses and redeploy capital, based on actual numbers: low cash flow, higher-than-expected turnover, and sunk costs.

This is exactly what smart investors do — assess and adapt. If you have constructive input, I’m open to hearing it. Otherwise, no need to assume I don’t understand what I signed up for.

Those things are the exact things that should've been underwritten. You did exactly the opposite of what smart investors. In RE specifically, you'll need to also underwrite for likely a (net) loss for 3-5 years, and then understand the appreciation/equity curve around year 7 and closer to year 12.

Did you put those inputs in your assess and adapt mindset? Or are you here to come to the conclusion anyone could've told you a year ago that this will be a long game and you're not getting something intrinsic day 1?

He's not assuming you didn't understand what you signed up for. You are confirming it.

Some constructive criticism? Evaluate the quality of your property(location and tenant quality), see if you're better off being less levered and in a higher quality area. Then bank on time, cause asset correlation is going to differ here and you need to operate phys RE completely different then coming back 1 year later and confirming you have no idea what you're doing.

Appreciate the input, but this forum should be for sharing insight—not flexing or tearing down beginners. If the goal is to help, maybe try offering advice without the condescension. Everyone starts somewhere.

0 Votes

Atlanta, Georgia

Quote from @Joe S.:

Quote from @Nir Heifetz:

Hey BP Community,

Looking for some advice and perspective from experienced investors.

I bought a property in Stockbridge, GA about a year ago for $225,000. It looked like a solid long-term investment at the time, but I’m starting to question if it was the right move.

Here's where I stand:

Purchase Price: $225,000

Current Value (After 1 Year): Still around $225,000 — no appreciation so far.

Total Investment So Far: Around $70,000 (including down payment, closing costs, agent fees, light renovations, etc.)

Cash Flow: Only about $200/month before expenses (not including reserves, maintenance, vacancy, etc.)

Tenants: I’ve already had 2 tenants in 1 year — both have moved out, which has added some headaches and turnover costs.

If I Sell Today: After agent commission and selling costs, I’d walk away with about $40,000, which means I’d be down ~$30,000 from what I’ve invested.

My original goal was long-term passive income, but at this point, I’m wondering if I should:

1. Hold and hope for appreciation + better tenant stability, or

2. Sell now, cut my losses, and re-deploy the cash into something with better returns or less friction.

This has been a bit discouraging, and I don’t want to make emotional decisions — just looking for input from others who’ve maybe been through something similar.

Any thoughts?

What would you do in my situation?

Thanks in advance!

Just be glad you didn’t buy too many at once. lol

Owning rentals (typically) costs the owner money the first number of years.

Haha, true — definitely glad I didn’t overextend on this one.

That said, I do have a few other properties in different parts of Georgia that have done a lot better in terms of appreciation. This one just happens to be the outlier so far.

Always learning!

1 Vote

Atlanta, Georgia

Quote from @Jeff Roth:

Hi Nir-

You bought a property a year ago and it really hasn't appreciated in the last year. You have had two tenants in that time which is a lot of turnover and expense. You also say you only have about $200 a month cashflow (when you have a tenant) not including vacancy, maintenance, and reserves.

I am sorry you are in this position but feel there are other investors in cooling markets nationally in a similar situations.

You wonder if you should sell for a loss and cut your losses or hold on and wait for things to recover.

1. Real estate is forgiving if you have a long time horizon.

2. If you don't have the stomach to hold on and keep feeding it, you should look to increase rents by renting by the room, rent the garage separately if you have one, rent the driveway for storing something if allowed, turning it into a mid-term, or short-term rental, selling with a form of seller financing that gets you a higher price, or sell at a loss and move on.

I looked at your area with the tools that are available to me and population growth is 0% since 2020, list price the last 12 months is down 7.1%, shows the market is cooling to a more balanced market, days on market are up, inventory is up, and median sales price is down 4.82%. Please verify all data.

To Your Success!

Hi Jeff

Thanks for taking the time to look into the area and share your thoughts — I appreciate the candid perspective.

You're right, it hasn’t been an ideal first year: limited appreciation, some tenant turnover, and thin cash flow. I knew it was a risk, but I was hoping for stronger fundamentals or at least more rental stability.

That said, I'm not in a rush to sell, but I'm also not looking to sink more time and energy into a property that doesn’t show signs of improvement. I’ve been considering a few of the options you mentioned — possibly mid-term rentals or seller financing — and I’ll explore whether they realistically apply to this location and setup.

I’ll also double-check the market data you referenced. It lines up with what I’ve been seeing, but it helps to hear it confirmed from someone else with tools and experience.

Appreciate the input — I’m weighing next steps and trying to stay as objective as possible.

0 Votes

Atlanta, Georgia

Quote from @Berenger Greer:

Nir,

As an atlanta investment agent I can say Stockbridge as a neighborhood does not have the best appreciation. In fact, the city has actually had a 3 year history of depreciating. See photo:

With that being said, rents have been stagnant for the past 3 years statewide, and stockbridge should be seeing in uptick in rental prices in the next year or two.

Out of 140 rentals managed under my brokerage, we have not been able to increase rent much in all of metro atlanta since 2023. We should see a shift soon with homes being unaffordable and more renters on the market.

All in all, I do think it is a waiting game at the moment. Real estate has been a bit slow all around, and I think it is too soon to judge where this one is going.

In the future, I will recommend researching a cities appreciation prior to purchasing, and any deal that needs cosmetic rehab be sure to get much lower than list price in order to give you more of an escape plan by mitigating losses if it doesn't preform as you originally expected.

Appreciate the info. Sounds like Stockbridge hasn’t been performing well, which is good to know. I’ll keep an eye on rental trends and take your advice into account for future deals — especially around pricing and appreciation potential.

0 Votes

Atlanta, Georgia

Quote from @Wayne Kerr:

Quote from @Nir Heifetz:

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Yes, I did run the numbers before purchasing. At the time, my cash-on-cash return was around 6.1%. What I didn't anticipate was having two tenants leave within the first year.

As for why they left — both simply couldn't afford the rent. I never raised it, and the property was priced reasonably for the area. I’m not sure if it was just bad luck or something I missed when screening.

My strategy was to hold for 5 years, refinance (I’m currently at 7% interest), and hope for appreciation over time.

The house is in good condition, located near two major highways, and about 25 minutes from the Atlanta airport, so I thought it would be a decent rental location.

So location is good, house is in good shape. It will probably break even then. If you do have losses can you eat the losses from your other employment? Maybe take the tax benefit, wait and see what the economy does for a few years then reassess. I'd hate to sell right away and lose 30k - that will be somewhat hard to recover based on the initial 70k investment.

Personally, I'd hold and wait and see what the market does in the next few years. How did you calculate a 6.1% CoC return? If you budgeted for expenses the $200/month would turn to zero or negative fairly quickly. CapEx/Maintenence/Repairs/Vacancy/Management etc

Yeah, I agree with you. I ran the numbers using the file I attached, and it looks like it will likely break even. Holding for a few years to see how the market evolves makes sense.

0 Votes

Atlanta, Georgia

1 Vote

Atlanta, Georgia

Appreciation in the first year was never my expectation — I’m well aware this is a long-term game.

This is exactly what smart investors do — assess and adapt. If you have constructive input, I’m open to hearing it. Otherwise, no need to assume I don’t understand what I signed up for.

2 Votes