Long Distance - From Relationships to Real Estate

[Philippe Ueng]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $42,500
Cash invested: $10,000

Read Long Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene, and had a friend who invested in Ohio. Learned as much as I could and Flint landed in my lap. I built a team: property management, agents, insurance agent, wholesaler, and pulled the trigger on this property after missing out on another.

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

Passive income is the name of my game, and the cashflow and ROI for me with private money was great.

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

Found it on Zillow, utilized my experience as a real estate agent to negotiate with the listing agent.

How did you finance this deal?

Private money, promissory note.

How did you add value to the deal?

The property was clean but not rent ready. It took another $3K and an extra 2 months to get the property rent ready, and sign a tenant.

What was the outcome?

Need to learn better due diligence. I thought I could trust my property manager, but I should have spent more time and effort making sure the house was actually the deal that it was.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Call utility companies. They're the most real assessment of the history of the property.
Make really good friends with a great insurance agent. If they're local, they know the property and the problems you'll come across better than your property manager will.
Biggest challenges were negotiating against my property management company since all of their work was outsourced. The employees were responsive, but unable to make decisions or concessions.

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

Yes, my insurance agent, Calvin Roberts. Can't find him online, but reach out to me and I'll forward his information to you.