How many of us do it the way all the rules say to?

[Roger S.]

I try to follow the guidelines, but we do buy some homes that don't quite follow the 1% or 50% rules, and we're ok with that.

The rule I'm really wondering about now is one I just read in a recent thread. Someone said that for each single family home you own, you should have 10k in reserves. We have 10 SFR's, all of them class B or C homes, mostly under 1000 square feet. No way do I have 100k in reserves. If I had 100k in reserves I could put down payments on 5 more homes with just half of that.

At the moment we are taking all of our profit to build our reserves for the moment when I quit my job.  My goal is to have 20-25k in reserves total, with a monthly contribution to that account of about 850 dollars.

I know that things happen, like roofs and AC repairs and vacancies, but I'm pretty sure 25k will be an adequate reserve fund.  Several of our houses have window units, and 2 others have very new units,  so that's a huge expense not to be worried about.  As far as roofs go, we have enough hailstorms here that most new roofs are covered by insurance, and that cost to the insurance company is already baked in to the premium we pay.   3 of our houses have vinyl siding, so no painting required, just a power washing every couple of years.  We are putting vinyl plank flooring in each unit as they need flooring, so that eliminates carpet replacement.  I do all maintenance and rehab except for AC work.

Many months go by with very little expense, and I'm feeling good about building our reserves.

Does anyone here with similar type properties think they need 10k in reserves per house?