The Ups and Downs of being a Landlord

So, things have gone well this year.  I refinanced a couple places, my adjustable rate mortgages have adjusted down, I am actually cash flow positive on some of the houses, I am paying down about $3k/month in debt.  I'm about to close on 8 more units in Buffalo.  Overall, it has been a good year.

(that's the ups).  Now for the downs.  I got a call from the property manager last night (while I'm in London for  business) that the rain in Seattle flooded the basement of one of the houses.  She said that we'll have to replace the carpet, and even some of the drywall.  The tenant, who has been in the house for over 3 years, moved out and isn't coming back.  This will be an expensive week.

The good news is that they have paid for december, so we have two weeks to get the house in shape before the new year.  We are also going to try to raise the rent 10%, since we have not changed it for the last three years, and the market seems to be picking up a bit.  That would be +$1800 cash flow for the year (although that will all probably be spent on replacing carpet and drywall, and the remortgage fee.

Oh well.  We will continue to plug along and roll with the punches.

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