Hello from south central Missouri

[Sylvia B.]

Hi!

Hubby and I live outside a small (2500) town in MO where we own and operate a coin store. We sell used money. :-D

We sort of fell into real estate investing.

We bought my mom's house in 09 and "rented" it to her for $100/year so she could afford to stay in her home after my dad died. Then in 2011 we bought a strip of land bordering our own residence, and it came with a house. We only wanted the land, but it was all or nothing.

So shortly after that a friend said he'd like to rent it because the house he was renting had sold and he had to move. Yes, I know renting to a friend can be perilous, but this has worked out well.

At that point we started thinking about intentionally investing in RE. Our town has lots of what I would consider substandard rentals, but very few 3-4 BR rentals for professionals. That is the niche that interests us.

Last August we bought an older (60+) 2200 ft² home with detached 2 car garage. We got a good deal, but put a little more into the remodel than we should have. We finished the work in Dec. and found good renters for it right away.

Now we're looking for the next house. Just 8 more to go to reach our goal of 10 in the next 10 years.