Our Second Investment Property in One Year!

[Derek Johnson]

Hello BP,

I wanted to post some info about our upcoming property purchase, we close on July 1. I am really excited about this one, and only a year after buying our second property and renting our home out. I leaned on Bigger Pockets OFTEN when I was researching real estate, and it has always been a great resource when I need to brush up on something! I especially connected with @Brandon Turner's blogs about being in your 20's and being a successful investor. Okay:

Our first home was purchased for $99,000. I overpaid, and had no knowledge of real estate or investing. I was 20, and that was in 2009.

I read many books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, etc.

SO----->

We bought our second home last year. Our first home was able to be rented for $900/mo, and the mortgage is $720. It's not the best, but we lowered our payment by moving, and it is a solid house in a nice area. The new house we moved into was a foreclosure, priced starting at $118,000 and dropping all the way to $65,000. We won a four way bid on the place at $69,100. It was assessed around $98,000. We fixed a lot of things ourselves and had it appraised for $108,000 this year. We re-fi cashed out $18,000 and have a purchase agreement on what will be our second rental property.

It is a 4br, 1.5ba SFR. Awesome woodwork, nice open main floor dining room and well taken care of. It was an estate sale, and the woman who lived there had been there for 60 years. We talked to the neighbors and they said she was always out in the yard taking care of things even at 90! It was listed at $79,900 and we ended up getting it for $71,000. It is assessed at $98,000 and comparables are selling for that in the area. It doesn't need too much updating in my opinion. Maybe some paint and new carpet from the living room to the upstairs.

My wife and I are now in love with real estate investing. I actually enjoy scouring the MLS / Zillow / Local Listings for the best deals. We were able to put 20% down for this property, and will have enough equity to pull out another $20,000 and buy another property when the right one pops up. The cash flow should also be very nice, upwards of $300-400/mo. I can live with that ALL DAY. I am still learning and still don't have all the service / skilled professionals in my roll-a-dex that I'd like to, but I have acquired some. I want to thank the BP community for sharing your knowledge and expertise with others. When I am comfortable enough with my decision making and number crunching, I will definitely try to help others as well.