Tag Archives: cash flow

Not All Turnkey Rental Investments are Created Equal

Credit: freedigitalphotos.net

Credit: freedigitalphotos.net


I hesitate to use the word “turnkey” because there is no clear definition of what it means. Sometimes I refer to my real estate investment as a turnkey investment, but that isn’t exactly accurate. Generally, a turnkey property is defined as a house that has been fully renovated and is ready to be rented out. The company that sells this turnkey property usually also manages the property for the investor. The goal is for the management company to handle the day-to-day operations of the property, it takes a fee, and you, the investor gets to sit back and have the remainder of the rent sent to you. This is mostly true for my investment except the first part.

The Hybrid Turnkey Approach

The company I worked with first acted as my realtor in bidding on the foreclosure. Then it acted as a project manager in hiring and managing the contractors in making renovations to the property. The property I purchased ultimately appraised for about $10,000 above the purchase price plus the renovation costs. If you were to buy a pure turnkey investment property, the company would have purchased the property at a foreclosure or short sale, made the renovations, and then marketed the property to potential investors. The key difference is that I purchased the property at the distressed price, whereas an investor of a turnkey property will purchase at fair market value. The turnkey company is a business and needs to make a profit so that is understandable. And I am not saying that buying a rental property at fair market value is unwise, I would just prefer to have some more equity from the start.

I was talking to another newbie long distance rental property investor, just like I am, and he purchased a property for about $55,000, which rents for $850 a month. Sounds like a good deal, right? However, he mentioned that the property he eventually purchased did not appraise for the agreed upon purchase price. Apparently, this is not uncommon in some turnkey investment properties. Appraising a house is not an exact science. It can be pretty subjective. An appraiser will compare the property you are looking to get a loan for and compare it with similar houses that were sold near that property. Generally, a property’s condition is not taken into account so it can be unfair to compare a newly renovated turnkey investment property to a property which has not been renovated.

He said that he was able to negotiate the price lower which made it a “steal” of a deal in his eyes. (Sometimes the seller won’t budge and the investor will have to put a higher down payment to get the deal done) His opinion is that the bottom line is what the cash-on-cash returns are and what his net monthly cash flow each month will be. Granted, those are incredibly important factors but I think it is short-sighted to only look at the numbers and nothing else. And it is definitely what I looked at when I decided to make my investment. But one thing that is also important when making an investment is to have an exit strategy. What if you want to sell the property? Will there be demand by other investors or by those seeking to purchase it as their primary residence? Will you have to take a loss when you sell it? I don’t want to be overly critical of his investment because he might just be a steal of a deal. I just don’t want to take that risk.

Cash flow is #1 but appreciation potential also matters

When investing in rental real estate, cash flow is important. Living in NYC, I hear many people talk about investing in properties here, even though there will be negative cash flow each month. They assume that because of the high demand in NYC, there will be great appreciation and they can then sell it for a much higher price. I’m not going to lie, the appreciation that I’ve seen in some neighborhoods in NYC are pretty impressive. I’m not taking that risk though. What if there is another downturn in the housing market? Will you be able to sustain paying the mortgage, property tax, insurance and for the upkeep. Also, NYC is pretty tenant friendly, so what will happen if your tenant doesn’t pay rent and it takes a long time to evict them?

While I invest for cash flow because appreciation can sometimes be hard to predict, the appreciation potential of the property and the market is still important. The newbie investor I spoke to bought a property that doesn’t appear to be in the greatest of neighborhoods. The numbers will look great because the property is very cheap compared to the what it will rent for, but numbers aren’t everything. You might end up with a property that is hard to sell or that you’re forced to sell at a loss. You might be dealing with more headaches involving the tenants.

Generally, when investing, money is made on the purchase so I would prefer to buy a property at distressed sale prices and fix it up to “force” appreciation. Once again, I’m not saying not to pay market price for a turnkey property or that I wouldn’t do it. I just prefer this route if possible. If I feel a market has a lot of appreciation potential, I would be more likely to pay fair market value.

What do you look for when you’re investing in real estate?