sold my first rental property

[Bernard B.]

Good evening bigger pockets members. I just sold the first rental property that I ever bought. I saw several forum posts about buying your first rental property, but I did not see any about selling your first rental property.  To me , it was bitter sweet , because I gained so much experience with this property. When I purchased it, they had a tenant occupying it. I had to go through the process of signing a new lease, meeting the existing tenants, doing repairs, enforcing rent payment rules, violations from code enforcement and finally an eviction. 

    I held this property for ten years and collected a decent amount of rent. After total rent , minus repairs, and my purchase price, I still managed to squeak out a minor profit( however, for tax purposes, it will still show a loss after the depreciation is added back in to calculate the cost basis, just my opinion). I chose not to do a 1031 tax deferral. The lessons that I learned the most, were to be firm with your rules, and definitely follow tenant screening, and don't take crap from contractors. Good luck to everyone pursuing cash flow through real estate, it can be done, but it is not easy.