The Hidden Costs of Owning an Austin Rental Property: Real Numbers for 2026

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On a $400,000 Austin single-family rental pulling $2,800 a month in rent, your real non-mortgage operating costs in 2026 will land somewhere between $18,000 and $25,000 a year. Gross rent is $33,600. So before you ever touch a mortgage payment, you are netting $8,000 to $15,000 (and that is if you actually fund a capex reserve like a grown-up, which most owners don’t).

That is the math. Ed Neuhaus, broker-owner of Kendall Creek Properties (and also of Neuhaus Realty Group, a residential sales brokerage in Austin since 2007) has been doing this math with owners for 19 years. The number people quote when they say “the rent covers my mortgage so I’m cash-flowing” almost never includes the seven or eight line items below. That’s not me being dramatic. That’s just the Travis CAD tax bill and a roof at year 22.

Rental Property Costs on Kendall Creek Properties — Austin Property Management

The Hidden Costs of Owning an Austin Rental Property: Real Numbers for 2026