I set my deal up so that the cash flow would exceed my down payment by the end of the term, ensuring me a profit, and any appreciation if I decide to purchase would be icing on the cake.

I know many, many Landlords that think they're successful and real estate investing is a cake walk...until reality happens.

Basically your tenants save money for you by paying your mortgage. and then the real icing on the cake...appreciation.

Those big fieldstones are probably just caked in cigarette smoke, which is why it's blotchy.

Hi @Matt D'Arco, why not have your cake and eat it too?

Is it icing on the cake since the tenants will pay down your mortgage?

Personally I would say no thank you but then again I don’t like partners I want the entire cake to myself Never saw the point of having a partner take a share when I can just pay whoever I want to do what ever work and go away Or get a loan, pay a low interest rate and deduct it from income taxes   VS giving a partner a share for just providing the money 

Cash flow positive is just the icing on the cake but not the metric in investment grade property purchases.   

I am tracking my returns based on cash flow numbers only (for conservatism reasons - I look at appreciation as icing on the cake).A little background:The underperforming units are all part of a small multifamily compound in a lower income neighborhood that I purchased in 2018 that looked great “on paper” but after tracking their performance for a few years, experienced less than expected returns due to one issue or another that has cropped up (more capex up front, tenant that I couldn’t evict for 10 months through covid, multiple vacancies causing turnover costs).

I guess I want my cake and….