I just hit a huge milestone in my real estate investing journey of reaching $1.15 Million in real estate properties. What a wild and crazy journey it has been to this point. Things have continued to look more and more interesting in the real estate investing world with the current state of the US and world economies.
The Most Important Thing To Think About With Real Estate Investing
Before going into some details on my current portfolio, I want to make one thing clear on how I think about real estate investing. What the $$$ amount of my real estate investing portfolio isn’t the most important thing to me. The most important thing to me is cashflow. Owning millions of dollars in real estate isn’t beneficial if you aren’t able to produce a profit after all expenses are paid.
Even more important than cashflow is your cash on cash return. I won’t go into a lot of detail on what cash on cash return means, but feel free to check out this article that talks in great detail on this topic.
My Current Real Estate Investing Strategies
My current portfolio as of 4/24/2020 was made up of four properties. If you have followed my journey on IG, you can continue to get updates on everything I am doing!
I have three overall strategies for my rental property portfolio.
First, house hacking! One of my 3 core principles and something I think everyone should take a stab at in their life. To learn more about what house hacking is and why it is so important, checkout the full article I wrote on my house hacking strategy.
Second, short term rentals! That’s right, Airbnb! I feel the sharing economy will only continue to expand in future. The millennial generation enjoys having unique experiences and traveling with their friends. This has opened up a world where short term rentals are the main avenue for these guests. Providing awesome experiences for them and places to stay will continue growing. Even after this pandemic.
Third, long term rent by the room! At The OG, I rent out my place long term by the bedroom to young professionals. This has been an awesome way to increase my overall cashflow of the property and increase occupancy rates. Orlando is a great market for young professionals, and this strategy continues to pay dividends.
My Current Portfolio
Now to walk through my current portfolio.
House #1: The OG
This was the first home I ever purchased. I purchased this home in 2016 for $292,000. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with approximately 2,100 sqft of living space. The home was brand new when I purchased it. I turned the side walk in office space into a fourth bedroom and lived in the home for 3 years.
This was my first house hacking experience and I just moved out of the home a month ago. This home is now valued around $340,000 after the last appraisal I had done to remove PMI. It is cash flowing roughly $700 per month when all the bedrooms are rented.
House #2: Ol’ Faithful
Ol’ Faithful was my first step into a dedicated unit for short term renal investing! This home is located near Disney World and is in a gated resort style community. The home is a 4 bedroom and 3 bathroom home with a private heated pool. If you haven’t been following along with some previous blog posts, this is the home where I am having all the HOA issues with. Go checkout the crazy story on this one at the link.
I purchased this home for $210,000 in August of 2019. The home is valued around $225,000 right now and cash flows between $500-1,000 a month depending on the time of the year. These numbers have definitely taken a hit since the vacation rental ban and not being able to rent the property out at all due to my HOA being a*****************.
House #3: Turquoise
Turquoise was my newest addition in the short term rental game. This home is a 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathroom home located in another short term rental style community near Disney World.
I purchased this home for $180,000 in February of 2020. The home more than likely remains around the same value as the date I purchased the property. I have yet to get this property fully performing as the COVID epidemic hit right after closing on the home and getting my first three 5 star reviews! More to come on this home in the near future and I expect this home to cash flow between $400-700 a month.
House #4: Trifecta
Trifecta is my first ever multi family property that I purchased! As I am sure you can tell from the name it is a triplex, meaning there are three units. Trifecta has a 2/1 unit and two 1/1 units for a total of four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I am doing a combination of house hacking, long term renting and Airbnb on this property. I am extremely interested to see how this unique property turns out from a numbers perspective.
I purchased the home for $405,000 in March of 2020. The goal for this property is to live for free! I am living in the upstairs 1/1 unit in the back of the home. Will be very interesting to see how the numbers end up playing out in the next two months.
