Cash flowing SFH in Los Angeles

[Richard Mercado]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $600,000
Cash invested: $5,000

Purchased this 3/2 SFH in 2014 as our Primary residence. 7 1/2 years later the value had doubled and we were ready to relocate. Fortunately having great tenants and low maintenance costs has allowed It to stay cashflow positive, which in CA can be a real challenge.

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

This was originally purchased as our Primary residence.

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

Our Real Estate agent found this as a pocket listing fro a prior seller She had worked with. This allowed us to avoid having to compete with other offers.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

Time. 7 1/2 years of appreciation and regular maintenance added tons of value to this property.

What was the outcome?

Being that rents had increased greatly over time and interest rates were at an all time low we decided to refi and keep this as a cash flowing rental property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The challenge was in relocating and finding a quality tenant quickly, to be able to use the new lease as income towards my DTI ratio. The timing was tricky on this one but it all worked out in the end.

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

My Realtor Brad Gilboe at BWG in Los Angeles did a tremendous job of pulling it all together for us.