New game "Real Estate Would you rather" own a STR that cashflows

New game "Real Estate Would you rather" own a STR that cashflows

New York, New York (NY) · Member since 2017 · 13 posts · 2 votes

$4k a month or own a 4 unit multifamily property worth 4.8x the STR but just breaks even month.


Here are the details. You have approximately $100k to put into a property. Property A is a Short Term Rental investment property that's selling for $300k. You have a very similar property now that makes roughly $4k a month in cash flow so you're considering doubling up and purchasing another one in the same area. You would most likely put 20% down and be able to get this property as an investment loan for say roughly 4.5% interest rate on the high end. For this discussion we're going to assume that you can get it to cash flow at $4k a month similar to your other STR.

Property B is a 4 unit Multi-family selling for $1.45M that you can get with an FHA loan for 5% down at $72k and most likely an interest rate of say 3.5%. You will live in one of the units and with the rent from the other 3 units you will just break even each month. This breaking even each month is however a cost savings to you though as you will save money from the rent you're currently paying each month.


So in summary, would you rather have a Cash Flowing Short Term Rental that makes you $4k a month or a 4 unity multi-family that runs at break even? 


To try to make a fair comparison I'm looking at the cash flow value from Property A over the course of 30 years. I'm increasing the cash flow by 3.25% each year to account for inflation. I'm also assuming I'm going to save every dollar from that cash flow over the next 30 years which if my calculations are correct would be approximately $2.3M without any interest being generated from the savings account I'd be using. I know what your saying. There's maintenance and property management and other non fixed fees that come up each year which I have taken into account already and I'm just looking at this $4k in cash flow each month. I'm also going to include the overall property value which if I purchased it at $300k in 30 years at 3.5% increase in property value should be worth roughly $814k. So hypothetically in 30 years Property A has generated $2.4M in all time cash flow and is now valued at $815k for a total value of $3.2M. 


Now let's compare that to the 4 unit Multifamily that breaks even every month. If it's current value is $1.45M and we can average that property value will increase by say 3.5% over the next 30 years that property would be valued at roughly $3.9M. I know rents will also increase and so hypothetically the property will eventually cash flow but for the sake of this "Real Estate Would You Rather" we're just comparing the property value of a break even multi-family over a high cash flow short term rental. 

So... Would you rather own the cash flowing short term rental or the high value break even 4 unit multi family. Which would you choose and why?  

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Joe SplitrockPro Member
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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
5y

You are looking at the 4-plex incorrectly. Your owner occupied rent value is cash flow. When you run the numbers, include rents from the owner occupied unit. Then the property does cash flow. 

Personally I would choose the 4-plex. Trading up to the larger property will net you more over time. The STR is a job as much as it is an investment, so you have to subtract your time from that cash flow. If you like the STR, one option may be to STR one or two of the 4-plex units?

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  • Joe SplitrockPro Member
    Moderator
    Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
    5y

    You are looking at the 4-plex incorrectly. Your owner occupied rent value is cash flow. When you run the numbers, include rents from the owner occupied unit. Then the property does cash flow. 

    Personally I would choose the 4-plex. Trading up to the larger property will net you more over time. The STR is a job as much as it is an investment, so you have to subtract your time from that cash flow. If you like the STR, one option may be to STR one or two of the 4-plex units?

  • New York, New York (NY) · Member since 2017 · 13 posts · 2 votes
    5y

    Thanks @Joe Splitrock. Yeah including the owner occupied unit as rental income does change up the numbers than pretty drastically. Overall though I guess I'm just curious if folks are more interested in Cash Flow right now or the long term upside of the larger property.  Trading up for the larger property does seem like the better option over time! My personal goal here is to eventually get both but just trying to determine which I should start with. 

    The STR's are definitely a job too as you mentioned, but I've got a pretty solid system in place now with property managers so it's slowly but surely becoming a lot less work for me.

  • Rental Property Investor · South shore, MA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    You can do STR on a 300k home and net $4000 monthly cash flow?!

    No brainer. 

    You buy 2 more of those and you can buy that 4 plex outright in just over a year.




  • Rental Property Investor · RVA · Member since 2016 · 5k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    5y

    Joe makes a great point. Also there is considerable regulatory risk with STRs, so that cash flow number comes with a lot more risk that you'll get shut down any day.

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