I guess you can call me a long-time lurker...I joined BP in Jan 2020.  I always knew that I wanted to invest in real estate, but I didn't know what capacity.  With me being in finance, I'm somewhat risk-averse and that's what took so long for me to take action.  One day, my sister needed a place to stay so I agreed to buy something for her and charge her a very very modest rent, but that fell through.  That's my first lesson of never mixing business with family.  Before it fell through, I was already working with a realtor and had my financing in order.  

I came across a short sale and honestly, I wasn't too enthused.  It was overpriced for what it was and I had been told time and time again that it would take too long for all parties to agree on the price...mainly the bank.  It had been on the market for a very long time and I was going to pass, but my realtor called me up and asked me if I was considering it.  I threw out a much lower number than what they were asking and to my surprise both the bank and the seller accepted.  It was one of those things where I didn't expect it and anticipated the seller to turn me down, then the bank to turn me down, then the inspector to tell me that the house was a dud, then the appraiser to tell me that it wouldn't appraise for the purchase price.  When none of those things happened I looked up and owned an investment property, a second home.  

We closed on Dec. 14th, and did I mention that I live in Texas and the property is in Illinois?  Aaaannnddd the place needed some work and I didn't have contractors lined up.  The bathroom, kitchen, flooring needed updating and it needed to be painted, so I estimated it needed $10K in reno.  Turns out that in addition to that the place needed a whole new front door locking system, galvanized pipes had to be replaced, it needed a new water heater and some of the electrical had to be updated.  Obviously, I'm not good at estimating because the reno ended up being $14K+.    

I am pleased to say that I closed on 12/14, work began on 12/19 and even with the holidays, the full reno was completed on 1/8.  I'm currently looking for renters, but I'm so flexible that I may use it as a second home when I want to come visit Chicago or with the housing market being the way that it is, I may just sell it.

I had so much fun with one and I'm looking forward to my next!