First Rental Property in the Books!

[Patrick Trevisani]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $254,000
Cash invested: $12,000

My roommate and I lived here for 12 months. During that time, I completely renovated the two upstairs full bathrooms to add a modern touch. Wall to wall with new tile, new vanity, new shower titles, new mirror, new lights, new fans, etc. Next up will be to add hardwood floors across the whole property. At the moment, only the downstairs is completely hardwood. This will have to wait until my current tenant decides to relocated.

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

Real estate has always been something I wanted to get in to. I was finally able to build up enough cash to put down a down payment. I lived with two other roommates at the time and our lease was about to expire and we were not going to renew. One of my roommates was going to move in with his girlfriend so that left two of us up in the air about where to move. I was sick of renting so the stars aligned in pulling the trigger.

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

Zillow and a local agent. Negotiated them down $6000. I attempted to make it $10,000 but we met at $6000.

How did you finance this deal?

3% down and primary residence

How did you add value to the deal?

Wall to wall with new tile, new vanity, new shower titles, new mirror, new lights, new fans, etc. Next up will be to add hardwood floors across the whole property. I added turf to the outdoor patio.

What was the outcome?

Renovations were done one week faster than initially planned! After living in the unit for 12 months, I now have a tenant signed to a 12 month lease at the moment.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons learned - finding quality tenants on your own is a full time job. I used the Zillow portal for applicants because it allowed me to see their background checks and for them to provide their financials. Screening the tenants and calling reference saved my life. I learned you can not make tenant selection personal. You need to look out for you no matter how bad their situation is.
Challenges - HOA. It took 12 months to get off the waitlist to rent my unit.