
HOW TO ACHIEVE
POSITIVE CASH FLOW IN REAL ESTATE
If you’re looking to
make money in real estate, then having positive cash
flow should be your top priority. Real estate cash flow is
the money you have left from your rental income after covering your rental
property expenses. This means that you don’t need to keep spending money from
your pocket to hold the investment
property. Plus, the more cash flow you have, the higher your
potential returns will be. On the other hand, if the costs of running a
property are more than the income it generates, this makes it a negative cash
flow property. No real estate
investor wants to end up with this type of property as it means
you’re losing money! How can you avoid this happening? Keep reading to learn
how to achieve positive cash flow when investing in
real estate.
#1 Search in the Right Location
Location affects each
and every aspect of a rental property, including its cash flow. For example,
the rental demand, rent prices,
and property costs all vary from one city to another. While it might be
convenient to invest in an area that’s close to you, rentals in this area may
not be profitable. If that’s the case, you need to search farther if you’re
looking to find positive cash
flow property for sale. The best cities for
cash flow properties are typically those with a strong economy,
good job market, and high demand for rentals. For example, many consider
college towns the best places to
buy rental property because they enjoy stable rental demand.
#2 Narrow Down Property Types
After identifying the
best city to buy a positive cash
flow rental property, you now need to decide what type of
property is best to invest in. To make the right decision, you first need to
know which property type best suits the area. For example, if you’re investing
in a neighborhood nearby school districts, then single-family
homes are your best option. If you’re in an area were lots of
millennials and young professionals are moving for jobs, you should consider
a multifamily
property. Next up, you need to determine your budget and the maximum
price you can afford to pay for an income property without risking a default on
your mortgage payments.
Related: Best Cash Flow
Investments in Real Estate: How to Find Them
#3 Set the Right Rental Rate
Based on the real estate cash
flow definition, the first factor that determines whether your
rental property cash flow will be positive or negative is the rental income. As
a real estate investor, you need carefully think about how much to
charge for rent. If you charge too little, your rental income won’t
be enough to cover your expenses. But if your rental rate is too high, you
won’t have enough demand and the property could sit empty, making no rental
income at all. Thus, a positive cash
flow rental property is one that is charged correctly.
The best way to
understand the best rental rate to charge for your investment property is
through finding and analyzing rental comps. By comparing
your property to similar ones in the area, you’ll get a sense of how much other
landlords are charging. Accordingly, you can set a competitive rate that
attracts potential tenants and still leaves you with profits after paying your
expenses.
#4 Break Down Property Expenses
The second part of the
cash flow real estate formula is the rental property
expenses. So, in order to achieve positive cash flow, you need to
understand all of the costs and expenses of your rental property
business – preferably before buying the property. This allows
you to make sure you can cover these costs at first and that the rental income the property will
generate will be high enough to cover then later on. When calculating your
expenses, you have to include both one-time startup costs (like mortgage down
payment) and recurring expenses. These include monthly mortgage
payments, maintenance, insurance, property taxes, and others.
You can also add any
additional costs that you need to pay which the tool doesn’t already display.
Moreover, if you believe you can reduce these costs, you can change the values
and our interactive calculator will re-estimate the expected cash flow.
#5 Choose the Right Rental Strategy
When investing in rental properties, you can
make money by renting out either traditionally (long-term rentals) or on Airbnb (short-term
rentals). While you might have a preferred rental strategy, you might not
realize that it affects your cash flow. You see, each strategy will yield different
rental incomes which, in turn, affect cash flow. So to achieve positive cash flow, you must choose the
optimal rental strategy based on your location and real estate data. For
example, if your location is considered a tourist destination and data show
that the Airbnb occupancy
rate is high, then it only makes sense to rent it out as a
short-term rental.
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