First Deal Complete and WOW

[Donald Thomas]

Hello all!!

Proud moment as I have officially jumped in with an excellent splash. I closed today on my first investment property. So lets get to the details:

Started my adventure few years back when I started learning as much as I can about real estate. I've read many books, listen to hundreds of hours of podcast, watch tons of YouTube videos to prepare myself for this moment. I was drowning in information as described in my first Bigger Pockets post. But I kept looking and was determine to find a good deal. I searched different markets because I had assumed that my local market in Washington State was too expensive for me. Even though I looked elsewhere, a part of me knew that I needed to stay local in an area that I was familiar with. I kept searching local and couldn't find anything worth pursuing. Then one day I started talking to a co-worker, whom himself own a few investment properties, whether he knew anyone that wanted to sell. Initially he replied no, but later that day he remembered that a buddy of his was once trying to sell a property but now just sits on it...vacant. I inquired more and later that day I was sent an email with pictures and property information. 

It was a duplex (2br/1bath 975sq ft each). Attached to the email was a price tag of $225,000. Knowing my market, I didn't have to look at comparables to know that this was a SMOKING DEAL. I immediately set up a time to meet the seller at the property. Before meeting I researched the property as much as I could, including the local market, looking for any obvious red flags. Comparables in the area was putting me at a range from $325-$365k. 

I knew this would be a great deal pending disclosures and inspections. During the visit the seller told me that he has been in real estate for 30 years and no longer interested or had the desire anymore. He didn't even have the energy left to keep tenants in the units, reason why they were vacant (use as tax writeoff). He hated real estate agents and didn't want to deal with them, so a FSBO transaction was ideal for him. Some disclosures were high water table causing a wet crawl space and there was obvious signs of exterior neglect. I still wanted the deal and the salesman in me just couldn't keep quiet. I offered him $215k on the spot (I know, I know...couldn't help it). He wince but eventually agreed to an as-is price of $215k. Went under contract.

Fast forward a few months (satisfactory due diligence) and now I’m officially in the game. Will do a $20k rehab and plan on waiting to after the seasoning period to do a cash out refinance to get my money back out of the investment and hold. This property was FREE and if I wasn’t ready or prepared for it, I would’ve missed out. 

Thank you to Tim Lynch for meeting with me to help put the contract together. This community is awesome and I love the fact that we're all here to help each other. 

Now to the next...