BRRR Have WE GONE TOO FAST? A Financial Diary

[Barbara G.]

We started last year and bought our first 2 side by side  Duplexes.  We did not have enough money at that time to renovate them but they were occupied and they cash flowed about $20,000 a year.  We bought the 2 of Them for $334.000 and they needed about $35,000 worth of renovations.   We have had to put back all of the cash flow into renovations and will have to continue to do that for an additional 9 months before we see the cash flow as we still have approx $16,000 more in renovations and then we will first start seeing our positive cash flow.  We like the town and feel there is appreciation on this property but we still have to wait 9 months to finish this and see any money here although the renovations are being paid for with the positive cash flow.

The problem is we have continued to buy.  We now have another Duplex under contract that we intend to BUY Renovate Rent and Refinance. We are paying cash for the duplex and  cash for the renovations.   This town is not as good and has lots of renters and it might take us 2 months to renovate and rent the 2 apartments and then we are going to go to a bank that has told us we can refinance.  We hope this will work as the Bank indicated it would be something that they would do.

We also have under contract another 2 duplexes (4 apartments) that we have a conventional mortgage on.  These 2 duplexes are rather new and in perfect condition and will cash flow.  They are occupied but one person has a lease for only $950 when the rent should be $1,100 and his lease runs for one more year.  The problem is we are getting a little nervous that we have expanded too fast.  We self manage.  

So in a little over one year we own the 2 duplexes that still need more renovation and we have 3 other duplexes under contract.

Have we bitten off too much.  What is the worse that can happen?  Perhaps the single duplex that we have to renovate and then refinance will be a problem?  Should we have gone slower?  But we are all in now.  What do the experienced BRRR think? 

[Jon Kepler]

Barring something catastrophic (fire with no insurance, construction worker dies on your job site, etc.), the worst that can happen is that you simultaneously go over-budget on your renovations, lose tenants and fail to refinance.

If you have significant cash reserves, you will be fine. If you don't have significant reserves, it may be wise to open a line of credit to have extra liquidity available. Some people will probably disagree with me on this, but as long as you have liquid capital, the sky won't fall. In real estate, everybody makes money long-term; the trick is keeping your head above water in the mean time.