Estimating expenses on buy and hold SFR

[Matt Larson]

For all you seasoned and experienced investors who have bought and held SFR properties for a number years:

I'm trying to see if I'm on the right track for estimating long-term expenses for SFR.

Background: Purchased first SFR last year, ~2,000 sq ft, built ~1985 in our local small East Texas town (slow appreciation) in a pretty nice neighborhood. We've had the same tenants the last 18 months.

Rent: $1,350/month

Mortgage, Ins, taxes: $960/month

Our initial plan/goal was to acquire properties and hold them for long-term (20-30 years+) to essentially have the tenants pay for the mortgage and we would make a decent cash flow profit annually and then eventually have a solid asset (trying to diversify investing, e.g. not having everything in retirement accounts/stocks)

Just recently the A/C had some leaks and is pretty much on it's last leg and needing a replacement (quote of ~$8-$9,000 installed + fixing leaks in duct work). This got me thinking about the long term expenses that most houses will need and does the overall ROI seem reasonable.

So I googled some info and tried to estimate life expectancy of house appliances, carpet, roof, etc and costs (item + installation), then figured out the monthly cost out. Also, I added a "maintenance/repair" category for minor things like fixing a leaking toilet, broken window, etc. (see below)

My main question is: Do these estimates seem reasonable to those of you who have done this for a while? And it seems the cashflow/profit is not great...I'm starting to wonder if year after year it's worth the trouble and expense to keep up the house to eventually have a paid for asset. (hopefully my rambling thoughts make sense :-)

Thanks in advance!

                                                    Total cost      Monthly cost

A/C unit (replace every 15 years)	$8,000	$45
Roof (20 years)	10,000	42
Carpet (10 years)	3,000	25
Dishwasher (10 years)	500	4
Range (13 years)	700	5
Water heater (10 years)	1,000	8.5
Microwave (10 years)	300	2.5
Maintenance/repairs (minor)		125
Total		257

Mortgage, insurance, taxes                            960

Total expenses  =  $1,217/month

Rent = $1,350/month

Cash flow/month = $133