Posted by SCook85 on April 15, 2000 at 23:00:50:
Kevin,
Much of this figure will be directly related to the age of the home. Obviously newer homes with newer systems will require much less maintenance.
Older homes are going to require more. There is no magic number to plug in. $50-$100 per month is probably safe. Better to deal with the more conservative higher number. You don’t ever want to cut it close, if you do, most of the time you will regret it.
Steve
Still Need an Answer - How Much do I Plug in for Maintenance? - Posted by Kevin
Posted by Kevin on April 15, 2000 at 19:21:57:
I didn’t get an answer on my other post - or maybe it was misunderstood. I would really appreciate it if someone could let me know what number they plug in for maintenance when calculating whether to buy a property. Specifically, I’m looking for a maintenance figure for a townhouse. I know Carleton Sheets says to plug in $50 a month for a SFH and $35 a month for a townhome but I’ve found most of his material to be out of date. I’d rather rely on numbers others use on this Newsgroup. Please let me know…
all the cash flow till… - Posted by RR Smith
Posted by RR Smith on April 16, 2000 at 08:40:34:
Why not use all your available cash flow for (MARC)IMPROVEMENTS on the property (maintenance is classified on taxes differently) till you come up to the average value of the best
or 3 best houses (townhouses) on the block.
Get an equity loan to do this if possible (improving your credit) because the interest is then tax deductible. So not only are you adding value, and getting tax free wage income, you are (hopefully) rolling over your profits into some more RE. Maintenance is not a problem for REI~~
~~ it is the second biggest ADVANTAGE (after the mortgage loan deduction)?it is what the fixer uppers (rehabbers) use to ADD VALUE.
Total operating expenses = 20% - 30% effective gross (nt) - Posted by Rolfe
Posted by Rolfe on April 16, 2000 at 24:34:36:
nt