First Investment Property

[Holly McCall]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $151,650
Cash invested: $5,000

We bought this property brand new to live in while we were building our current home. (It was close and less expensive than renting) When our home was complete we turned it into a rental.

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

It was in a brand new townhome community and at the time renting the same home would've cost us $300 more a month. We were the general contractors on our new build so we had no idea what the time frame was so we just bought the townhome using as little cash as possible. We needed our cash from the sale of our previous home to construct the new home. It just made sense.

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

We were looking for a rental at the time and discovered this community.

How did you finance this deal?

We used a lender that I recommend to clients and he decided FHA was the best option for us.

How did you add value to the deal?

I'm a realtor so I was able to collect commission on the deal.

What was the outcome?

We've had great tenants and we put their entire rent payment towards the loan. We now owe under $130,000 and it's value in this current market is close to $200,000.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We should've done this sooner. I heard so many horror stories about being landlords so I always shied away from investment properties.