Beautiful Canton (Baltimore) Fix and Hold investment

[Natasha Fitch-Nolan]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $189,000

This was our (my husband and I) first investment property and there was a steep learning curve despite our experience with renovations and construction. The pandemic mixed with unscrupulous contractors makes for an interesting story and invaluable learning experience. Let's just say that we had to do the whole renovation twice, but luckily, the deal was so good to begin with that there was room for our lack of experience when looking for red flags in contractors.

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

We like the idea of holding property long term as a strategy for building generational wealth. We are also really interested in STRs, however Baltimore is not STR friendly.

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

We purchased this deal at auction. The owner received a low final bid and we swept in and negotiated after the auction closed.

How did you finance this deal?

Hard money.

How did you add value to the deal?

The property needed serious updating and we finished the basement for extra square footage. The area was generating strong rents as compared to the cost of acquiring a property so the numbers made sense. However, with our unfortunate experience with the pandemic and being scammed by unscrupulous contractors, we had to renovate twice which seriously impacted our final numbers.

What was the outcome?

It is currently being rented @ $2700/mo.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We had every intention of managing the renovation ourself, but when the pandemic hit (right while we were closing on the property), we sought out another company to manage it. We trusted "friends" who did this for a living, so that we wouldn't have to expose ourself or our children during a dangerous time. What resulted was criminal negligence and fraud. We learned to always have our eyes on our projects.

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

none that I would recommend