First rental property

[Justin Smith]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $220,000
Cash invested: $72,000

First apartment I've ever purchased. I encouraged my friend to buy the apartment before me and he ended up wanting to sell it because he didn't enjoy managing it. I took over for what was a great deal and the property has been cash flowing very well ever since.

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

I always wanted to get into multi-family properties and the opportunity to purchase this came up as an offmarket opportunity.

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

Friend of mine wanted to sell it privately.

How did you finance this deal?

Put down 12.5% of my own money and went to a family member for the other 12.5% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

Renting out the garage space.

What was the outcome?

It is cash flowing about $430 a unit.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Challenges are knowing everything there is to know about this property. This is my first rental so the learning curve has been interesting.

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

I worked with my wife who is a professional real estate agent.