First investment property with zero experience

[Samantha Mosquera]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $168,000
Cash invested: $170,000

First investment property. A 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bathroom townhouse located in great quiet area in Newark, NJ near the universities and city hall. Was purchase in cash from an auction. Recently did cosmetic renovations after the pervious renters moved out

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

I studied in Rutgers Newark and saw house much money was going into the city and knew I needed to invest but didn't know where or how to start. Ran into some money at the time and ended up putting all off it in to this house when I heard the street name that the property was located on. It was my first time going to an auction and truthfully got lucky that there was no major rehab needed.

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

Via a live auction held at the court house. The house was on foreclosure and was being sold by the bank. Was unable to negotiate.

How did you finance this deal?

Did not finance, had the cash.

How did you add value to the deal?

June of 2022 I renovated the kitchen and upgraded all appliances

What was the outcome?

New tenant that pays higher rent.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned a lot about property management and maintenance as well as the eviction process in New Jersey. Also wish I did more research and didn't put all my cash in one location I wish I would have been able to do a loan and use the rest of the cash as down payments to buy other properties.

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

Not for this property.