First Potential House Deal

[Kevin R.]

Hello, I am pretty new to the forum, but I've lurked for a while. Let me tell you my goals and then a bit about a potential deal.

I want to buy a rental home to hold. I am concerned primarily about building a nest egg of equity for my retirement in about 25 years (with tenants paying for the equity). If this goes well, I'll buy more and keep at it.

I have no interest in making a career of this, I already have a career that I love.

So I have the opportunity to buy a house. The asking price is $79,900 and I anticipate I could probably get it for $73-75. But let's pretend I am buying it for a straight $80k. The house is in foreclosure and sold for $95k about five years ago. It is in really good condition and is only about 6 years old - it will probably need about $300-500 in touch ups to get it to local rental standards.

The property tax is $850 a year. Insurance is $625 a year. I will manage the property myself.

I am putting $0 down and getting a 2.5% loan amortized at 20 years so my P&I is $413. It's a private party loan, the property will not be encumbered and so to everyone but myself and the lender it is a cash sale. It's a family thing - the lender isn't in it for the money but to help me out.

The property will rent for $750.

Do you think this deal matches my goals?

[Jodi Slocum]

We're in the Northwest Arkansas(Bentonville/Rogers) area and those numbers are close. Some examples that we've encountered in the last year while exploring up here are:

Purchase price 76k, mortgage 450, rent 975

Purchase price, 62k, mortgage 350, rent 1125

Purchase price 90k, mortgage 550, rent 1200