Newbie in the Real Estate Business

[Arnelia Teachey]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $65,000
Cash invested: $24,000

This is a house (rancher/3 brs/2 baths & a bonus rm) I purchased in 1998. But, I only lived in it for 1 1/2 years due to getting married. I've been renting it out for the past 21 years not intending to do anything else. Now, that I am divorced, I have turned this one home into a business and intend to scale up. Any help or advice on how I can move forward from here will be greatly appreciated.

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

At the time, it was me just buying for own home.

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

I used a realtor. The house was a foreclosure.

How did you finance this deal?

I got a loan through the credit union I was working for at the time.

How did you add value to the deal?

I made the proper upgrades.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Use better screening techniques for choosing tenants.

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

Not really, this was years ago. Now, that I am new to the real estate industry, I have research and find realtors.