A roof might be good for 15-25 years, depending on how nice of a roof you install. Some roofs can have their life extended by adding another layer of shingle, but eventually you need a tear-off and full replacement, which can be on the order of $10K. Furnaces have a useful life of around 20 years and might cost you $3-4K to replace. Hot water heaters will cost you $600-1000 to replace every 10-15 years or so. The list goes on and on. Even without anything "small" unexpectedly breaking, maintenance can easily approach 10% of your rents.
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It seems because I disagree with you, you are right and I'm wrong. Where on earth are you paying $10K for a roof? Water heaters Cost $300. $400 if you have someone else install.
I didn't ask for advice. I find internet advice to be worth what I paid for it.
But I did ask what experience you have had with your rentals? I also asked what market your rental are in. Lots of snow in the winter? Bad plumbing that causes your water heaters to fail frequently? High labor cost for a roof? Are your rentals in such condition that they routinely do need maintenance?
I'm going on my experience so when someone suggest I should factor in a "tenant placement fee" and I say we don't have that, you want to get angry. Recently replaced a roof. $6,000. 30 year life span. $200 per year, not per month.
One house was bought new in 1956. We had it off market for nearly a year doing a renovation. Lets factor in all the times between tenants we had for cleaning, etc. Lets say two year vacant in total over 60 years of ownership. No where near 10%.
Why do you have 10% vacancies? If I had that I'd ask myself why. Our last newest tenant stayed 14 years. She only left because she decided to stop paying rent and we don't like that.
The tenants next door to that moved after 22 years. They retired and bought a house. They couldn't afford it raising five children. This house we reno'ed at the same time as the above. Let's say the same two years vacant total. 2 out of 44. (We did a lot of the work or they would have been rented faster). That is 5% and that was mostly our fault.
Longest current tenant: 24 years. One roof (house needed it when my father bought the house but he waited some) one HVAC in 1997. No paint, no carpet. Two new sink faucets and one new wax ring on the toilet.
So, my answers are based on my experience; not a book or standard formula people love. So again, what are YOUR experiences with your rentals.
You do have rentals don't you?