New BRRR investor in Milwaukee WI

[Mareno Rathell]

Hello everyone, My wife and I are new to investing in rentals. Our first property was a duplex for $35k with new electricals, new garage, new driveway, new fencing and recent roof. We put an additional $5k into it (I did the work myself).

We interviewed our prospective tenants 18 months ago and we still have our original tenants. They pay $700/m each ($1400 total) and always pay on time.

We just picked up another duplex ($31k) last week with a long term renter (10 years) in one unit paying $600/m and the upper unit vacant but just renovated.

We will be closing on a three bedroom/ 2 1/2 bath condo this week for $14.5k with the expectation of putting about $1500 into it (new paint and carpet). The condo fees are $203 and we already have a renter lined up for $950/m.

Our plan is to acquire two more duplexes by spring.

We would love to purchase four family rentals but they are running about $30k per unit ($120k total) @ $500/m per unit on average. Doesn’t seem to offer a good return. We are currently staying about $15k per unit on average with $700/m being realized from each unit.

[Mareno Rathell]

@Michael Henry, regarding finding the deals, we don’t participate in auctions or properties were a ton of people are interested. They seem to just bid up the price on each other. We just look for that properties that seems to slip under the radar that people tend to mis-judge.

The one Duplex we purchased with a side driveway was being sold by a lady who lived there for over 19 years. Her kids just had a new garage built that summer with all new concrete foundation and driveway, new glass block windows in the basement, new 7’ fencing in the rear, new fuse boxes with surge protectors built in , recent roof and a lot more I still don’t know why it sat on the market for 18 months but we picked it up for $35k.

Also we’ve noticed people are despite make a deal by years end, so December seems to be a great time to negotiate.