1st Deal Underway in Cleveland, Ohio

[Mike Trzaska]

I've been lurking on these forums and consuming all the great resources BiggerPockets has to offer for over five years. I'm happy to say that I am well underway on my first BRRRR deal on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. I closed on 1/15 and am into a pretty significant renovation where I will be renovating a bath, adding a bath, updating electrical, and cleaning up the exterior. Although it has been a long-time coming, and I wish I would have jumped in the game earlier I am excited to finally be in. For me a few things were the impetus for jumping in:

1. Mindset Shift - I stopped looking for the perfect deal (which is hard to find on the MLS) and looked for a deal that worked for me. My criteria was something that cash-flowed at least $150 net income after refinance, was not above my weight class (no commercial), and would give me an opportunity to learn things to apply to my next deal.

2. Flexibility - I was all about small (2-4 unit) multi-family for a while, but the property I bought was a single family home from an estate.

3. Cashed out on Primary Residence - Even if you don't get in the game by house-hacking you can still use your primary residence as an equity boost. My wife and I bought and renovated a home in an up and coming area that we were able to sell and move into a larger home for significantly less. One of the reasons we did this was so I could buy a rental property, so selling our first home made that goal written in ink.

Here are a couple random things I have learned thus far in my BRRRR:

- You can't just skim coat plaster walls that are crumbling, glad I had my contractor walk through with me and renegotiate.

- Picking out 50 2x4's 30 minutes before closing makes you sweat. Don't do this - Get a pro account at HD, order your materials through the desk or online and have everything delivered.

I hope this helps someone who has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the perfect time to jump in. As my wife told me before we got engaged "there is no perfect time", not surprisingly it took over 5 years for me to pop the questions (theme?)