How would you like to be a tenant waiting on a repair because the owner wants 3 bids for everything and not only will that delay the repairs, but you'll have 3 people coming through your home everytime you make a maintenance request?

Hi everyone,
I’m a new investor learning the ropes of being a midterm landlord. I bought an outdated condo, planning to do a cosmetic rehab later when I had more budget.

I moved out of the condo in mid-2024 for a ...

You must report rental income on Schedule E and can deduct rental expenses like repairs, maintenance, property taxes, mortgage interest (allocated between personal and rental use), and depreciation for the rented portion.

Care for yard, repairs, and hot tub. 

In any case, successful wholesaling REQUIRES the knowledge, experience, and ability to accurately estimate repair and rehab costs and time.  

Assume break even cash flow while rented which includes a generous $600/mo repair fund. 

In total, including money lost from rent, legal fees, and repairs, the situation cost almost $30k.

Quote from @Jeffrey Bourque: Hello All, I am new and this is my first attempt at purchasing a property with the intent to create monthly cash flow.The property: Triplex Listed at $140,000 - Total monthly rent income $2,150 - Tenants want to stay and are all willing to sign new leases for 3 years - 8 beds 5 baths and 3,500sqft livable space on a 4,800sqft lot - Heat and electric paid by tenants and water trash paid by owner $180 month - I have managed to talk the selling price down to $105,000 with a kick of $10,000 for closing and commissions so $115,000 all in - Building is in fairly good shape according to pictures and questions but have not done a inspection yet - some general maintenance repairs are needed according to the seller but nothing that seems to bother the tenants. - Taxes are on the higher side at $6,000 yearMy Numbers: $115,000 putting 20% of my money $23,000 and finance the rest with total expense of $1,834Monthly expense numbers: Future Maintenance 13% $273 - Vacancy 5% $105 - Property Insurance 5% $105 - Property Taxes 23% $500 - Property management 10% $215 - Office/Travel/Legal 4% $84 - Mortgage 26% $552 - Monthly Cash Flow - $316 per month or $3,792 per year so Cash on Cash = 17%I think this looks like it is a deal worth doing and I also believe I can bump the total rent up by $50 each tenant which I think make it even better.

I am sorry that the storm that passed through just prior to your stay required emergency roof repairs. 

Here's a list of things to track:- Formal lease application- Formal signed and executed lease specific to your state- Payment history (I recommend using online rent collection like Apartments.com, RentRedi, etc)- Maintenance requests and receipts- Accounting for all rental-related expenses (repairs, utilities, etc) The more you treat it like a business, the more helpful you are to your CPA come tax time.