From ancient to updated! We brought this duplex back to life!

[Jackie Lambert]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $230,000
Cash invested: $69,000

Super dated duplex. Everything about it was old. Came with tenants that all moved out 5 months after we bought it. Perfect opportunity to update it and raise the rents!

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

Admittedly, I just had the itch to buy "the next thing" and found this one. It had been on the market for something like 3 months but that's when the market was suuuuper hot. So I wasn't sure why it was still available. It looked like it just needed some love.

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

It was listed for $240K but the day we saw it, there were four other showings. Our realtor asked the seller's agent if there were any other offers, and there weren't. So she advised us to offer $230K. It had been on the market for a while. And it was the right thing to do, because he accepted it. He was just over the house and ready to move on.

How did you finance this deal?

conf 30 year fixed at 3.5%

How did you add value to the deal?

After those tenants left, we did a full reno, both units. The upstairs is tiny so we furnished it. The city denied us for nightly rentals because there were too many within 600' of us. So we decided to do a midterm rental and it has consistently rented since! It's close to downtown and the big hospitals, so it has seen a lot of traveling nurses. The bottom is a long term rental. The full reno for both with the furnishings for the upstairs was around $55K.

What was the outcome?

That took the rent from $1750 to $3100. We take care of the lawn and pay the water.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This house is THE house for issues, if you know what I mean. Little issues and big ones! It's cute and all. But it's been a pain in my butt from the beginning. I have learned many lessons. The biggest of which is when I'm having that 'itch' to buy the next thing... I need to slow down and practice more patience.

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

Lisa George with Keller Williams has been our agent on this and the last 3 houses. She is one of the top (if not the top) realtor in Kentucky. She is kicka$$!