Long-Term Appreciation Hold & Great Cash Flowing Condo

[Kate Daye Ruane]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Naples.

Purchase price: $310,000
Cash invested: $14,000

PERSONAL INVESTMENT - Vacation Home & Rental

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

I was seeking to diversify out of NEPA & to have a vacation home in a prestigious area that generated income until the mortgage was complete. Due to the distance / maintenance, and my distrust on some of the other markets and options, I felt very safe with a condo in Naples. This condo is in a prime location with value-add, the HOA rules were reasonable, the fees were low for what I was getting, and it was somewhere I would enjoy staying.

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

Found by researching the area for quite a few months on my own. I ran numbers and submitted offers on a variety of options from Cape Coral down to Sanibel / Captiva. I also paid a buyer's agent (as an agent myself) to handle the transaction with a FSBO seller and built his commission into my purchase price.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional

How did you add value to the deal?

Personally renovated it from drab to fab with items such as brand new Carrera floors and furnished from top to bottom. Added sleeping for 2 more people. The current owner had it listed for rent at $1800/mo but it always sat vacant. I currently have it rented for $3900/mo with tenants paying all utilities.

What was the outcome?

Had a great time renovating it & the condo is renting for more than expected. Have had no vacancy thus far, and I manage it myself. The value has increased in less than a year by approx. $50,000 as well.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Working with a FSBO can be a pain in the *** as they have no agent to talk sense into them on their pricing or to keep them on track. Getting things signed would take forever and my agent was doing double duty to get the deal done and negotiate hard when I needed to be focused on my own clients. It all worked out great.

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

I worked with Ryan Smith of EXP as my agent, and Douglas Pinnell of Whitehall Mortgage as my lender. I highly recommend both!