Rental Analysis

[Muks M.]

Hell seasoned investors,

just starting out my RE investing venture by moving to single family home and planning to rent my current townhouse.

Trying to figure out if it makes sense to rent...perhaps some experienced landlord could help me analyze this.  Details below:

15 yr mortgage at 2.75%...

Total monthly payment for my current home is $1872 (PITI). Money going to principle is ~950

HOA of 113/month (include trash collection fee which I am thinking to provide as an incentive to the renter)

Home warranty $54/month

Total per month expense ~$2050 and expected per month rent is $1850

It seems like a negative cash flow/month. But the way I am thinking is that ~$950 is going towards principle in my monthly mortgage payments which in long term is coming to me anyways and I will be taking ~$750/month to my pocket at the end.

Not sure if it is the right way of looking at it?

Any feedback would be appreciated!

[Adam Smith]

@Muks M.  Personally, we would not rent a negative cash flow property which is essentially what is explained.  Why not find a property that cash flows monthly and the tenants are paying off the mortgage.  Granted we only have one rental but we cash flow $700/mth plus the tenants are paying $750/mth on the principle. 

We saved the monthly cash flow for CapEx, vacancy, etc. There are a lot of expenses other than the mortgage in a rental. Water heaters, furnaces, roofs. appliances, flooring, etc. all have a useful life and will need to be replaced. If you are feeding the rental every month and you have to repair/replace items you may be feeding the rental a lot more than you think.

Just my two cents....

Please note we do not know your personal situation or your local market.