First Real Estate Investment Property

[Gary Libero]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $360,000
Cash invested: $16,000

A unique 2 family house that is set up horizontally instead of vertically (no one lives above or below, rather side by side). The larger side of the house has 3 BRs, 1.5 bathrooms and a great deal of storage space. The "apartment" side is a 1 BR unit with 1 bathroom and a flexible floor plan. The apartment was formerly a 7 bay garage (a former owner was a classic car dealer). It was renovated in the early 2000s by the most recent former owner into a really nice living space.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This is my first dive into real estate investing. I made a 5 year plan to replace my current income and will hopefully be able to leave my current day job and pursue these types of investments (and larger ones!) going forward.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Against better judgement, this was the first and only house I looked at when I started this process. I reached out to a realtor friend and she helped me negotiate everything. Scored the property for 10 grand under asking and it ended up appraising at 32 grand over the original listing price. I negotiated via my agent and the former owners were very motivated to sell. Everything worked out perfectly.

How did you finance this deal?

Maybe not the best strategy here, but it worked for me. I was able to get an FHA loan and only needed to put down 3%, which after all was said and done (sellers covered closing costs) came to just under $16000. I took a loan against my 403B retirement fund and plan to pay that back to myself within the next 6 months after the sale of the house I still own with my ex-wife goes through. I'm entitled to 18 grand of the sale of that house via our agreement, so I just sped up the process for myself.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Absolutely. One and Company out of Wallingford CT. Carrie and Vinnie are the best! A great, knowledgeable team who work very well together.