All Forum Posts by: Yulya Marucya

Hey everyone — I’d love your input on what’s honestly been a frustrating situation.

I bought a home in Austin, TX (Pflugerville to be exact) back in 2021 as an Airbnb investment for $420K and put in about $100K into it (5% down payment + lots of repairs). 

Fast forward to today: home value is $400K or less, it's cash-negative at -6K/year as Airbnb or -12K/year as long-term rental and I’m facing a tough decision: sell at a loss, or wait and keep eating negative cash flow and hope the house will appreciate to at least 470K in 5 years.

What would you do in my position?

Here’s the breakdown:

📉 Current Monthly Expenses: 2.9K

• Mortgage (P&I): $1,675.13
• Insurance: $269.42
• PMI: $121.00
• Property Taxes: $602
• Utilities (avg): $650
• Gardner: $100
• Pond Mainteinance: $140 (I have two Koi ponds on the property)

Total Monthly Expenses: $2,9K w/o utils or ~$3,7 with utils, not even factoring in fixes or capex. 

I also have a hot tub that costs $185/m to service.

💡 What I’ve Tried:

• Airbnb: Net loss of about $6K to 8K/year (after cleaning, taxes, etc.) and a lot of hassle
• Mid-term rental: Listed furnished at $3,200/month on Zillow — no serious interest yet, no competition either which means there isn't much demand for mid-term furnished rentals in Pflugerville
• Long-term rental: Rents are 2.2K. So it would actually perform worse than Airbnb (close to -12K/year) unless I bring in an investor to lower the monthly mortgage cost which is unlikely.
• House-hacking: based on my calculations for 3BR 2 BA house it would still be -5K/year.

🧠 My Dilemma:

• My mortgage balance is 370K. Selling now at 400K would mean losing a ~$100K initial investment, AND paying 8-15K out of pocket now to cover fees, plus losing my 3.5% mortgage (big asset in today’s 7% market).
• If I wait let’s say 5 years, I’d need it to appreciate from 400K to at least 470K to just break even with factoring in negative cash flow. And I’d still not recoup the 100K I invested into renovations. For that to happen the house needs to be closer to 600K. How likely is that?
• And if we go into a recession and Airbnb stops working, I’d be stuck with -12K property per year... waiting until it appreciates. 

🔍 What I’m Looking For:

• What would you do in my position?
• Am I missing a more creative option?
• Would selling and taking the hit now be smarter than waiting and losing $6–12K/year in hopes of recouping it later?

Appreciate any thoughts or experiences you’re willing to share 🙏

@Nicholas L.

1. Yes, reached out to agents

2. No but I'd love to, any advice on how to find local investors? 

3. Thank you

4. Talked to a realtor, compared to last year, he says prices are holding steady but we have more inventory and the average days on the market are 40 (were 21 last year).

Got it, so my options are:

1) to find a friend/family investor who'd be ok with 9-12%IRR

2) sell the property and not only lose 100K invested but pay additional 16K in selling costs and depreciation recapture.. 

3) keep losing 10K/year on it as Airbnb and hope it will appreciate to at least 460K (it's currently 408K and dropping).

What would you do?

Hey everyone — I’d love your input on what’s honestly been a frustrating situation.

I bought a home in Austin, TX (Pflugerville to be exact) back in 2021 as an Airbnb investment for $420K and put in about $80K into it (5% down payment + repairs). Fast forward to today: home value is $400K so much less, it's cash-negative and I’m facing a tough decision: sell at a loss, or try to bring in an investor to restructure this into something that breaks even and eventually appreciates.

Here’s the breakdown:

📉 Current Monthly Expenses:

• Mortgage (P&I): $1,675.13

• Insurance: $269.42

• PMI: $121.00

• Property Taxes: $602.80

• Utilities (avg): $650

➡️ Total Monthly Expenses: $2700 w/o utils or ~$3,350 with utils, not even factoring in fixes or capex.

I also have a hot tub that costs $185/m to service and two beautiful Koi ponds that also cost around$115/m to maintain.

💡 What I’ve Tried:

• Airbnb: Net loss of about $8,000/year (after cleaning, taxes, etc.) and a lot of hassle

• Mid-term rental: Listed furnished at $3,400/month on Zillow — no serious interest yet, no competition either which means there isn't much demand for mid-term furnished rentals in Pflugerville

• Long-term rental: Would actually perform worse than Airbnb (close to -12K/year) unless I bring in an investor to lower the monthly mortgage cost

🧠 My Dilemma:

• My mortgage balance is 370K. Selling now would mean taking a ~$100K total loss, probably even need to pay 10K out of pocket now to cover fees, plus losing my 3.5% mortgage (big asset in today’s 7% market)

• I’ve been considering bringing in an investor to contribute $90K–$110K, eliminate PMI, recast the loan, and reduce monthly payments by ~$750 which would allow me to rent this long-term and break even. going forward, hoping for appreciation.

• I’d offer them a share of appreciation or equity (e.g. ~30% of appreciation over 5 years or ~45% equity), which gives them 10–12% IRR

• However, I'm not sure how many years it will take to reach target 600K home value from current 408K for this to make sense.

• Hope is not a strategy but I do believe in Austin market to become hot again, the only question is when.

🔍 What I’m Looking For:

• Would you consider investing in a deal like this if you were in their shoes?

• Am I missing a more creative option?

• Would selling and taking the hit now be smarter than waiting and losing $8–10K/year in hopes of recouping it later?

• Is there a smarter way to structure this deal to attract the right capital partner?

Happy to answer questions or run numbers. Appreciate any thoughts or experiences you’re willing to share 🙏

It's mostly a rental, the number do work out for Airbnb but not for long-term lease (negative $200 per month).

One bedroom in the house is not well insulated and gets more hot in the summer than the rest of the house. 

Solar system is 10,000 watts, I haven't received my first electric bill yet so can't see how $250/m compares to that but it should reduce the bill to nearly zero. 

My predicament is whether to pay for the solar loan in full by adding it to the purchase price or not.

I originally leased the house and invested quote a sum of money to furnish it. I rent it out on Airbnb when I'm not there. 

If he puts it on the market - it will be a hassle for me to accomodate the showings and the new owner will probably not extend the lease next year. The inventory is very low and the competition is insane in the area, so I don't have any other options to invest in the area at this time.

Hello, I found an off-market deal and looking for an advice from fellow investors.

It's a 3BR/2BA in Largo, FL, 33774. The seller wants a market price of 320K (however in a hot market like this properties are going for way over the market price), BUT he wants me to also take over the loan for solar with monthly payment of $250, or add that 10K + 10K incentive that he needs to "pay back" to the purchase price. I'm new at investing and solar panels and not sure if I should try to negotiate.

What would you do in my situation?

Hello, I'm also looking to invest into Midwest City / Del City and stumbled upon this topic. Is there anything else that makes Section 8 tenants more attractive to investors than just low turnover? I know in Canada there are programs that allow tenants to rent a room instead of a house which is a good 'house-hacking' strategy for landlords and more income. Is there such thing here in the US?

Here is the one I use: https://smartasset.com/taxes/p...