My First Rental Property Freak Out

[Justin Johnson]

Is it normal to start freaking out after you purchase your first rental property?  I know I am seriously freaking out.  I hope that it's just the jitters from all of the new things going on.  This is the first property I've ever bought, let alone a rental property.  My first experience was...interesting to say the least.  The seller seemed a little shady and didn't bother to tell either agent that the tenant was moving out...the same day that we were closing.  I am house hacking this one, living in the one side that I thought was going to be vacant.  The other side was cleaned decently and is in pretty decent shape, but the SMELL is so bad in there.  Everything has been chaotic and I'm really trying to calm myself, but I just have this huge anxiety.  I worked and saved and cut my finances to the bone saving off 40% of my income each paycheck, then poof, it was gone into the down payment.  Has anyone else felt this way when they started or is it just me?

Any stories, advice, or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated right now while I'm trying to hold it together.

Thanks!

[Joe P.]

Justin -- relax. It's normal. You didn't buy a 100k car which loses 20% of its value driving it off the lot. You bought a property that likely has the same value it did yesterday. If you sold it tomorrow, all you'd lose is your closing costs front/back, a super expensive lesson but ultimately most of your money is still there.

Now, the purchase is done, but I assume you ran your numbers on this? Why not share it with us and we can provide feedback on your evaluation and what to expect.

What's the smell on the other unit? Is it smoke, dead rat, urine? There's companies that fix everything. 

What's your estimate on rehabbing one or both units? Do you have that cash set aside and ready to go? If so, just start executing. Fix whatever is broken, replace what's needed, do it quickly, validate the work, and work on getting your income rolling.

This is an operations and execution business. You just executed the sale. Not start operating the business. What goal needs to be met with this tenant moved out? Providing a clean, safe, and ready rental to your next tenant. Make a checklist, start delegating items to yourself, a GC, or a PM, and focus on one, two, or three of the biggest items until your checklist is down to zero.

Breathe.