How Much Should I Have in Reserves for Capital Expenses?

Our next caller has five single family homes and a commercial medical office building. Steve Daudery in Fresno, California asks how much money should be set aside for capital expenses such as flooring HVAC roofs, etc. David: If you can turn the daunting idea of I'm $500,000 in debt that sounds terrible into I owe four grand every single month or whatever the number would be, it won't feel as scary.

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Interest rates have become a hot topic over the past six months. Back in 2020 and 2021, homeowners were bragging to their friends about their rock-bottom mortgage rates and how they secured financing at three percent or less! But times have changed, and seven percent interest rates are becoming the norm. Now, nobody is bragging—in fact, many investors are too scared to buy, thinking that today’s interest rates are far too high to buy homes with. If you’re following this thought process, you could be making a BIG mistake.

Welcome back with another Seeing Greene episode, where our “high rates, who cares?” host, David Greene, answers questions directly from investors just like you. In today’s show, David coaches a young investor on building his side business, why quitting your job could be a mistake, and how to learn from past deals to build wealth far faster. Then, David pivots into answering questions from investors on how to get over your fear of taking on good debt, how much to have in safety reserves for your property, and why being scared of high interest rates could hurt you in the long run.

Want to ask David a question? If so, submit your question here so David can answer it on the next episode of Seeing Greene. Hop on the BiggerPockets forums and ask other investors their take, or follow David on Instagram to see when he’s going live so you can hop on a live Q&A and get your question answered on the spot!

In This Episode We Cover:

Why quitting your job as a real estate investor could be a BIG mistake

The right way to house hack and how to maximize every piece of property you buy

Good debt vs. bad debt and why most people view mortgages the wrong way

Capital expenditure funds and how much to keep in cash reserves

High interest rates and when refinancing at a worse rate make sense

Seeing money as “energy” and using it to build wealth while others are scared to act

And So Much More!

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