Christmas Present From The Tax Assessor

I got my tax bill in the mail for the next year's property taxes at Rental #1 and got a nice surprise. When I was analyzing the property before purchasing it, I used the tax estimate calculator at the assessor's website and had estimated my yearly property tax to be $989.00, based on my purchase price for the house. But the tax bill is currently still being figured using the seller's purchase price, which means my tax bill is only $376, just a bit higher than the $371 the previous owner was paying. That gives me an extra $51 a month in cashflow! Of course, I'm sure next year the taxes will go up, but at least I got a one year reprieve from the higher tax.

And that money will come in handy. The property is still not rented yet. It's only been on the market for two weeks though. The old tenants moved out the end of October and the management company had it off the market for two weeks for cleaning. December is the first month that I've had to make a mortgage payment without getting any rental from it, so hopefully it will rent soon.