Negative cashflow property - What would you do?

[Justin Whitfield]

I own a 5 unit apartment building. It really is a very old house (I would guess built in the 1920's) that was converted into apartments sometime in the 80's.  This property has a huge hassle factor and is a headache.

The apartments are all on the same power, water and gas meters, so utilities are included in the rent. They are heated through gas boiler/furnace with radiators, and the only AC is window units.

The units are all different floor plans. 

The Math:

Income

Unit A: Rents for $525, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom

Unit B: Rents for $450, studio apartment with mini kitchen

Unit C: Rents for $475, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom

Unit D: Rents for $500, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, unit is upstairs

Unit E: Rents for $500, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, unit is upstairs

Total gross monthly rent: $2,450

Expenses 

Utilities total around $925/month: $450 for power, $250 for Gas and $225 for water.

Taxes and Insurance are $350/month

Management (I manage myself but charge 10% for the analysis): $245

Repairs/Maintenance (5%): $122.50

CapEx (5%): $122.50

Vacancy/Uncollectible Rent (10%): $245

Debt Service: $500/month

Total Expenses: $2510

Monthly Cashflow: -$60.00/month

Obviously this is not ideal.  As I said above, the property is located in a bad area. It's not a good piece of property. The property is one that the hassle factor is HUGE.  It's always been a huge headache and constant source of stress. I owe $67k on it and I have had it listed with an agent for 10 months.  I've had a couple of offers and I even accepted an offer of $52,500 which would leave me covering the difference.

This property attracts poor tenants, and decent tenants won't come near it. It's easy to say "get better tenants" but this property is just not in the location or condition to get good tenants.  I have performed nearly 10 evictions in 3 years on this property, the other 10 properties I own I have only had 1 eviction in 3 years.

Some options I have considered are updating the heating/air systems to more efficient systems to save money on utilities. Switch the meters to be unit specific for power, water and gas. This would be a huge investment, in my area it's around $5000 to have the heating and air system installed, so that alone would be $25,000.

I'm considering dropping the price to a ridiculous level and take my loss and move on.

I would love to hear any advice, or maybe just confirmation that I need to get rid of the property as fast as possible.

[Joe Villeneuve]

I don't see a negative cash flow here.  I see your rent covering all of your actual expenses, but not your potential ones.  There's a difference.

See my questions and comments below:

Total gross monthly rent: $2,450

Expenses

Utilities total around $925/month: $450 for power, $250 for Gas and $225 for water.

Taxes and Insurance are $350/month

Management (I manage myself but charge 10% for the analysis): $245  Q:  Who are you paying this too.

Repairs/Maintenance (5%): $122.50  Q: Who are you paying this too.

CapEx (5%): $122.50 Q: Who are you paying this too.

Vacancy/Uncollectible Rent (10%): $245  Q: Who are you paying this too.

Debt Service: $500/month

Total Expenses: $2510

Comment:  The way I see it, your actual expenses are only $1775, which means ...

Monthly Cashflow: -$60.00/month  Comment: ......your actual cash flow is $675 to the good

Comment: Yes, those other items are important to cover, but unless those are actual expenses they are not having an impact on your cash flow right now...with right now being the operative word.

My thoughts:

1 - If you are getting $675/month, or $8100/yr in cash flow, then you should take that money and convert your utilities to separate meters...and bill the tenants accordingly.  That alone would add whatever % of the $925/month you're paying out of pocket now to your cash flow.

2 - Put all of your tenants on an autopay system.  It's amazing how effective this can be to keep rents coming in on time.  With 5 tenants, the total cost to you would be around $20/month...that's TOTAL,...not per tenant.  This would make the sale of your property much more attractive.

3 - Focus on selling the property again.  If at a loss, it's at a loss.  That loss will be a one time loss, instead of a long term "bleed".  The object here is to stay in the game.  You'll be out of the game faster than you can say,"I'll take 5 new cards".  The number one rule orf REI is much like Poker...to "stay in the game".  Losing a hand isn't losing that money in the pot...the money is still on the table in a different pile.  If you keep throwing bids into a bad hand though, that money will be lost and you'll be out of the game...with no chance of recovering it.