First investment property-need opinions!

[Brandon Birmingham]

I am fixing to close on my first rental property. The bank did 75% I put 25%. The bank loan is 14,500 and my cash is around 6500 after closing and insurance. The home as is value is 25,000 with repairs that i listed for the appraiser 29,000 after. Even though In my opinion doesn’t make since. The repair cost is going to be around 5,000. The overall rent will be 750 a month and the same tenant has been there 13 years. I was looking at options to get the money for repairs and options for the tenant in the future rent to own or a lease with the option to purchase. I am in the military as well. Looking for opinions and thoughts for the next step. I have a few plans in mind, but I want to see if anyone has thoughts and options, so that I choose the best routes. Thanks to everyone who responds it means a lot!

[Barb Asay]

Food for thought:  the $5000 you are expecting to spend on repairs, are they needed maintenance items or more cosmetic type improvements?  You said the tenant has lived there for 13 years, so my first thought is don’t bother with anything cosmetic until she moves out, THAN go nuts with cleaning up the place.  If it’s necessary items like roofing, safety hazards, etc that’s different.  

I’m not saying this as someone who rents out crummy places and doesn’t care...  I take pride in owning nice, solid, clean rentals.  But my thoughts went that direction when you said how long she’d been there.  Especially if the rent isn’t going to be going up...