March Apartment Update

Got the management report and the March financials for the Houston apartment complex yesterday. Things continue to look good. Occupancy remained steady at 93% and revenue stayed about the same as February. Expenses due to marketing, turnover, utilities, and property taxes dropped. The property had a positive cashflow of about $7,500 for the month - a nice change after running in the red for so long. The property is also in the black to the tune of $17,000 for the year.

The positive cash flow will be used to pay down some of the bills that had accrued during the lean prior 12 months. Management doesn't expect to resume investor payments in the near term, but I'm pretty confident they will happen before September. As a reminder, our loan switches from interest only to interest and principal in June (it was interest only for the first three years), so that will add about $3,000 to the monthly expenses. But this was budgeted for in our projections, so it's nothing unexpected.

Management feels the property performed fairly well during the recession and I agree. The goal of this investment has always been to make money by improving the performance of the property and selling it, rather than strictly through cashflow. I think that goal is still on track.