June Goals

I'm going to tread water in June: my expenses will be up markedly and my income will be down some. On the expense side, my annual property insurance is due in June. I pay for all 8 properties at the same time, and since I don't amortize a monthly expense (this would make more sense, but is more complicated than I want my personal finances to be), I'll be taking a $4,000+ hit in June just for this one line item. Second, my tenant for the vacant townhouse backed out on me at the last minute so I had to re-market it. Another property is also becoming vacant later in the month. This is my most expensive property so the loss of income will be significant (more than $1,000/month).

June Goals:

• earn $3,000 from mystery shopping (last month I earned $2,136)
  
• keep credit card debt and car loan under $42,000 (5/31/2010: $41,716)
  
• start process of purchasing my next rental property

In 2009 I purchased 3 rental properties. That was more aggressive than I am comfortable doing now, especially since I don't have wage income. If I purchase just one property in 2010 I will be happy. One of my tenants has expressed an interest in a lease-purchase option. They are a young married couple and have always paid their rent on time. Rather than risk losing such a great tenant, I probed them to find out what their plans were. Since they want to be homeowners, I told them I could help. In June, I plan to find financing for the property and hopefully identify a few potential purchases. Financing is hard because my income is derived from self-employment and I take a lot of deductions, which makes it look like I earn a lot less than my bank account would suggest.