Whats your Lesson Learned?

[John O.]

I wanted to see if anyone here had any lessons they have learned from doing battle in the trenches?

I recently purchased my third rental property for my portfolio.  I had two home run deals (based on my business plan) that both rented above market rents in the area.  I was sure I had just found another one.  The house was small (an old maritime style Baltimore house - built in 1855 in fact).  It packed a lot into 616 sq ft with the potential to do a build out along the back at a future point which could easily serve to increase rent and be fantastic for resale value.  

There was this catch. The stairs. Lets just say that people back in 1855 were a wee bit smaller than they are now and overhead clearance isn't exactly 'code'. But its fine I thought. The location was great. The ARV and potential was there. The house compared with others on market was in the top 25% for finishes. So you hit your head once or twice on the stairs when you went down them. Surely a tenant would learn. Problem is... they would have probably learned... but with plenty of stock to choose from, most won't even give it a try.

What happened? 

Well here is my lesson learned.

When you are buying a house that has a pressure factor associated with it, like size for example, be on the lookout for deal breakers.  The low overhead clearance on the stairs caused me to go through more than 30 property tours with just one application and at a rent 200 below what I expected.