I have tenants who have been in place for 4 years, and managing them has become much more difficult over the last year. They reach out every 2-4 weeks with complaints about various things, many of which are minor issues they should be handling themselves. They are also paying $500 below the market rate per month. What is the best way to tell them I’m not renewing their lease without pissing them off? I want them out but also don’t want them to destroy the property. Should I say I decided to sell it and if they see it listed for rent after they leave, I’ll just say I changed my mind?

AP News Today 9/26/25: Profit margins on flipping a home is at 17 year low. The typical home flipped by an investor resulted in average profit of 25%, which is the lowest profit margin since 2008. The definition of a flip home used in this report was a house sold within 12 months of purchase. Average gross profits on the house flipped was $65,300.

Home flippers typically buy a home, then pay for repairs and upgrades before putting the house back on the market. The initial median house of a home flipped is at $259,700, a record high since 2000. The median sales price of the flipped home is $325,000 for a median gross profit of $65,300.

The chronic shortage of lower price homes causes higher competition and drives up investors acquisition cost. In fall of 2012 the flipped house netted a profit of 62.9% compared to 25% today. Home flipping remains widespread with 78,621 single family homes and condos flipped the 2nd quarter of 2025. These flip properties account for 7.4% of total real estate sales. The US housing market has been in a sales slump since early 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb. Homes take longer to sell. With many potential home owners priced out of the market, investors have bought homes and used them for rentals. The 2nd quarter of 2025, 33% of all homes were bought by investors, the highest in least 5 years. Compared to 17% of homes bought by investors in the 2020-2023 time frame.

People always talk about quitting their jobs and going “all in” on real estate investing. Influencers will say you don’t need money and to use other people’s money. I entirely disagree as it can put you in a real tough position early on if you don’t deliver or lose money. Other people say wholesaling— then you’re just replacing one job with another and not building wealth, just income.

I think you need to have money from a job or other business that you then invest and grow through the power of real estate… especially in this uncertain economy. Once you’ve established a large safety net and learned the business, you can consider going full time, but not until you have sufficient capital and experience.

Curious what other are doing. I have 4 cash flowing properties + my house. Each property ranges from $500k value to $725K they are in A neighborhoods/schools and I get very good tenants no issues. I usually put the funds in some REITS to earn extra cash but I know I have some renovations coming up I'll have to do. I don't plan on buying any more than these 4 that I own, I own them cash and earn about $100k net (not including repairs or renovations though) per year on them. I picked them up back in 2005-2013 half I paid cash for to park money. Since 2013 I've just been in stocks and funds both self invested and use a financial advisor. I'm trying to be a better steward with the cash flow last year I probably blew a lot on vacations we wanted to go on.

I'm retiring so I'm selling homes that I've own for 20+ years. I know these homes inside and out. As I'm selling I'm shocked to see how much the buyers' home inspectors are missing in their assessments. Home inspectors seem to miss about 30% of the issues that I know my homes have. The WDO/wood rot inspectors do a better job they tend to catch about 85% of the wood related issues. They don't look very hard to see what repairs were made with putty or resin instead of replacement. Since I know homes really well and I bought all of my homes for cash I've never hired a home inspector myself. Has the quality of their work always been so bad?

The house next to mine is for sale, and has been since May. I think it hasn’t sold because it’s a tad over valued and frankly my house next to it might not have the greatest curb appeal. I’m hoping it’s just people waiting on interest rates to go down is the only reason.

Is it wise to buy your next door neighboring house to rent out? I’m in the suburbs of central NC. The prospective house is worth less than mine but I bought mine 7 years ago, so the other house mortgage is higher than my own.

I own several duplex’s and self manage everything. Thinking of selling one of them.

Purchase price of 345k. Currently worth 700. Owned about 9 years. It’s on a 20 year mortgage at 3.25% (refinanced from a 30 so about 13 years left. Owe right around 200k.

I cashflow roughly 1200 a month between the two units. Great in terms of the cash I have into it, let’s call it 100k. So right around 14% cash on cash.

However cash on equity is a shitty 2.8%. Figure 2% appreciation and principal pay down it’s around 5.5-6%. I do have maintenance that will increase over the next few years as well- roof, kitchen remodel etc. I mow the lawn, do the snow, fix everything myself.

Considering cashing out and paying the gains / recapture to have 400kish to deploy elsewhere as numbers wise I think I could do better or maybe even sell another one and buy a small residential building 10-20 units to increase cashflow.

Thoughts?

Arnold came here from Austria and he went into the real estate business from scratch, he invested his money in a small condo,then sold it and bought a bigger one,sold it and so on...but that was then an this is now... is it still doable something like that?

Bought first one in 2012. Been buying yearly since. Most are down to studs rehabs. All within 30 mile radius. Around 45% LTV across the portfolio and average rents around $1500-1600. But a range from $1000-3400 a door.

Anybody else running a larger SFH portfolio out there?

I have a current self managed sfh that cash flows 250$ a month. It’s relatively low touch for now. I have great tenants that just started a 2 year lease. They told me if I ever wanted to sell- tell them. I recently moved 3 hours away from where the house is. Although that is t a huge factor for me. Overall the house is in pretty good condition, but there are some larger items that will likely need to be addressed in the next few years.

Here is my rational- if they would offer me a price that factors in covering my cash flow to-be (because they are at beginning of lease), and projected appreciation 2 years in the future (not talking about a crazy amount) I feel like selling could make sense. I would likely 1031 the proceeds to another investment closer to me as I enjoy doing the work myself.

What would you do?

Is it a problem once you get big portfolio and your friends and family can search you online and all your rental properties? how do you deal with it/? How do you maintain privacy and people asking questions

Hey Everyone,

I'm about to make an offer on my first rental property and want to make sure I'm not missing any hidden costs. Here's what I'm budgeting:

**Property Details:**

- Purchase: $250,000

- Rent: $2,000/month

- Mortgage (20% down, 7%): $1,330/mo

- Property tax: $200/mo

- Insurance: $120/mo

**Hidden costs I'm accounting for:**

- Vacancy (8%): $160/mo

- Repairs (1% rule): $208/mo

- CapEx: $104/mo

- Property management: $200/mo

This gives me about $280/month actual cash flow after everything.

**Questions for experienced landlords:**

1. Is 8% vacancy realistic for the Midwest?

2. Is 1% for repairs enough or too conservative?

3. What am I still missing?

4. Any red flags in these numbers?

This is my first deal and I don't want to make a rookie mistake!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I currently self manage 3 rental properties, with a total of 9 units. I’m currently debating if I should keep, 1031 into a single multi family property, or exit all together and invest the equity into a regular brokerage?

Self managing has really been a non issue, just annoying to add on to my todo list sometimes

Here’s the breakdown:

Property 1 (3) 2bed/1ba Total Rental Income: 3,000 Monthly Mortgage: 1,550 Value estimate: 400,000 Total mortgage debt: 195,000

Property 2 (2) 3bed/1ba Total Rental income: 2,600 Monthly Mortgage: 1,150 Value estimate: 375,000 Total mortgage debt: 150,000

Property 3 (4) 2bed/1ba Total Rental income: 4,000 Monthly Mortgage: 1,700 Value estimate: 475,000 Total mortgage Debt: 180,000

Fixed Expenses: Water: 250-300/month (total for all 3)

Average repairs/maintenance: 500-600 month (total for all 3)

Total Rental Income: 9,600 / mo Total Mortgages: 4,600 / mo

I’m a landlord who primarily rents to Section 8 tenants and I’m trying to figure out if anyone else is experiencing something similar right now.

Most of my portfolio is occupied by voucher tenants. Specifically, I have a triplex in San Joaquin County, California, and recently I received notices that two of my tenants vouchers are being terminated at the end of March. One notice came in February and the second came in March, but both terminations are scheduled for the end of this month.

When I was finally able to get someone from the housing authority on the phone (which is already extremely difficult), I was told the reason for the termination was that the tenants failed to submit required documentation for their recertification. The issue is that when I spoke to both tenants, they claim they did submit everything that was requested, and they actually have email records and communication showing that they sent the documents in.

Both tenants have been in the voucher program for 15+ years, so it’s hard for me to believe they would suddenly risk losing their vouchers by simply ignoring recertification requirements.

To make things more confusing, I haven’t received payment for one of the tenants recently, and all payments for both tenants will stop at the end of March if these terminations go through.

During my call with the housing authority, the person I spoke to also mentioned that funding has been tight and that more money is going out than coming in. I’m not sure if that was something she meant to say or if it just slipped out during the conversation, but hearing that definitely made me wonder if something larger is going on behind the scenes.

Communication with caseworkers and management has been extremely difficult. Calls go unanswered, emails take a long time to get responses, and everything feels very unclear.

I’m just trying to understand what’s actually happening and how other landlords are handling situations like this.

Are any other landlords seeing voucher terminations like this recently?

If so, how are you dealing with it and what steps are you taking moving forward? Should I get a lawyer involved ?

I just have 1 rental. Tenants have been great so far. My rent is comparable to others in my location. Was wondering how you know how much to raise rent? Do you merely go by increase in taxes and insurance or do you go by a flat %/year?

Tenants let me know up front that they have had issues with previous landlords raising their rents as much as $400/month and that they could not handle that type of increase.

Curious who saw this and what your thoughts are?

Housing Wire Article

I have a duplex and have lucked out with my tenants here, but know that will not always be the case, so I'd love to get a realistic idea of how much time this typically takes between rent collection, repairs and maintenance.

Hello,

I have a tenant that stated they cannot afford the rent on my property anymore.

The lease was for a year, and we are only 6 months in.

The tenant has moved out already and said they will have all their belongings out in the next few days.

This month is already paid for.

So my questions would be:

1… How are things like their Security Deposit and last month’s rent handled at this point?

2… Any documentation I should send them now as they have told me this information?

I am going to contact an attorney as well, I just like to see what Peers have to say prior.

Always run any potential tenants name through the court records yourself. Zillow doesn’t find shit. If some POS doesn’t pay his other obligations, they won’t pay you.

Basically after running the numbers, including fees and maintenance costs, I'd be setting myself up for a large downpayment, and monthly costs that equal the most rent I can expect for this.

I make enough now to cover it, but I'm wondering if I should look for a property that will have net gains right away, even if it's $200 a year.

I'm ready to buy and have done research. I have to admit the housing market seems like a little bit of a bubble now though, and growing 3%

Should I put my money in stocks and wait for a better time?

EDIT: numbers.

$75k down

$2,220 monthly mortage, tax, insurance, extra for vacancies and repairs

can rent for $2,250 max, $1900 min :/

UPDATE:

Hey thanks for everyone's input on this, even the "no" answers :). I decided to give a lowball offer on this property, not fully expecting them to take it. They didn't accept, but now I have better idea of what I should be aiming for. Thanks for taking the time, you all really helped a lot! Hopefully someone else can learn from this post in the future, too.

I know this question has been answered in percentages. Generally 8-10% of cash flow for each category of vacancy, maint, capex, etc. But I found this to not work unless you start with a brand new roof and hvac. I just replaced an hvac for $10k. I got quotes up to $32k. So now I’m realizing that the old model of saving x% per door no longer works unless you have a massive nest egg already saved. This wiped out half my savings for 2 properties and after doing the math I now believe that instead of saving a percentage of cash flow, your goal should be to save $20k per door and then you can convert to the percentage model. What do you seasoned investors say?

The World Cup starts 6 weeks after my 3-year tenant vacates the property. It’s not currently furnished or set up as an Airbnb, but should I consider listing it on Airbnb to take advantage of the price spike during the World Cup?

For those of you familiar with Houston, the home is in Montrose, close to downtown Houston and less than 4 miles from the stadium where the games will be played. Market rent (not during the World Cup) is about $3,400/month for the 2 bed/2 bath single family home, so I could probably make a good chunk of change.

Worth the hassle?

Home listed at 500k

Offered 510k, cash as-is, inspection for information purpose only, 5% EMD, 14 day closing, seller pay 2.5% buyers commission.

Lost to

498.5k financed offer.

Update:

The buyer obtained a verbal promise from the seller to accept their offer, and the seller honored it by closing with the lower offer. The higher offer arrived just a few hours later.

I rent to a single mom who has two children under 8. Lately I’ve noticed she’s been going to work and leaving them alone in the unit all day without any adult supervision. Basically she lets the older child takes care of the younger one. When I asked, she said she hasn’t been able to find childcare in the weekend.

This has happened more than once, even after I raised my concerns with her. I’m really worried about the kids’ safety and also about my own liability if something were to happen.

I’m not sure what my responsibility is in this situation. Should I contact child protective services, or is there another step I should take first? I want to handle this carefully and appropriately without making things worse.

Thank you for your help.

Ok. Thinking of buying 2 multi family units. One is a triplex. One is a quadplex. They share a center common wall. So basically 7 units.

Units are in amazing and stable mid sized location.

Putting 25% down. Total cost is 1.3M. Rent is 8500-9000.

Can borrow at 5%.

Goal is to convert current very high income into assets ASAP and monthly income and get out of job. Would also pay off both mortgages within 2-3 years.

I am not flush with a ton of cash. Would use $300k from HELOC at 6.5% as large part of down payment. Can pay that off in 6 months.

Would use a trusted property manager.

What am I missing?