First income property

[Jill Barrett]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $13,000
Cash invested: $35,000

This was our first investment property. The property was unlivable at the time, broken water pipes, frozen boiler and water damage. It was being used as a single-family home and we converted it to 3 units.

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

It had a lot of potential.

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

Found it on the MLS. Because of the broken pipes and no furnace, we were able to get a great deal. These are things people shy away from. We look for them!

How did you finance this deal?

My husband received $8,000 from his grandmothers will. We used $6,000 for downpayment and did seller financing. It ended up being a great deal as the sellers divorced and needed money and accepted a small portion of the loan as payment in full.

How did you add value to the deal?

took a single-family home and made it to 3 units. We did all the work ourselves.

What was the outcome?

We now had our first income property!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This ended up being our best deal to date. We learned that divorce will make some people take pennies on the dollar to just be done with it. Our biggest challenge was putting on a new roof ourselves. It's a huge building with a steep roof.