Last year, when I started this blog, I intended to write one post a week. After the first few weeks, it became clear that one every other week was the correct pace for our content. And then, in September, I became a zombie. Not actually, at least, I still think I have my whole brain. But I was working nights and sleeping during the day. If time is fluid as a mom, it becomes even more fluid during the graveyard shift. Somehow, it is now February of 2025. I have returned to the land of the living and, hopefully, also to our bi-weekly post.

I know our last post was a status update but since we’ve had a bit of a hiatus, I will bring us current with where we are at now. We officially have two, rented income properties, both near Canton, Ohio. We did not end up switching property managers, although I am still not thrilled with our current choice. Can someone please explain to me why the landlord would be charged if the tenant slams a door and breaks a window? I have not addressed this with the PM yet because I was waiting to see if we would be reimbursed. However, I am not hopeful about the outcome. I will let you know how it goes.

While both properties are currently tenant occupied, we are still not seeing crazy returns. Random charges have eaten into our monthly cash flow (see the previous paragraph for an example) and it took a minute to get our second property rented. We should start seeing returns next month. When we signed the property management contract, I assumed “one year free” meant one year of a managed property. It turns out that the year started when we signed the contract and not when they found a tenant. 

While this is all disappointing, we are not losing hope. I have to remind myself that it has not even been a year since we closed on the first property and we are already 20% of the way to our 10 door goal. Hopefully, around the 4-5 property mark, these little annoyances seem less, well, annoying.

Looking forward, we are starting to get ready to buy a third house. There is a little bit of indecision about buying one as fast as possible, which would be in Ohio, or waiting a little longer to save a bit more for a nicer property and looking to another state (probably Arizona). I still think I want one more in Ohio before moving on, although I would also like to see if we have the same issues in a different location. So, we can let the outcome of our second property influence the decision we make with the third.

Also, in the future, we would like to try self managing with one of the new apps (of which there are many) to see if this alleviates our frustrations at all. One of us would have to change our working situation or the kids would have to be a little older before this is a real possibility though. 

The only other thing that has happened in the last few months has to do with our tax strategy. I could dedicate an entire post to that subject and probably will, after we have filed our returns. For now, we’re back and look forward to telling you about our successes and our failures as we navigate this road to financial independence.