Renovated our first home and did surprisingly well

[Jessica Lundin]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $179,000
Cash invested: $25,000
Sale price: $500,000

Replaced windows, remodeled kitchen and bathroom, replaced siding

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

We needed a place to live and we decides to keep it when we moved. We bought it as a short sale.

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

It was a weird system that isn't around anymore but we "bid" on it with a realtor. I wanted to bid $175,000 but my husband at the time wanted to bid $179,000. We had to wait maybe 2 months to see if we were going to get it and luckily the owner let us rent it while we were waiting. The previous owner had paid $335,000 for it 2 years before for a 2bd/1ba home!

How did you finance this deal?

30 yr mortgage with VA

How did you add value to the deal?

We painted the inside, opened the kitchen/dining room, replaced windows, removed a nasty fabric lined black tub from the basement, replaced the siding and redid the bathroom.

What was the outcome?

We loved it and rented it out for about 5 years after we moved.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned how to use a pnematic nailer, and became a great painter. Living in a reno while the kitchen is unusable while doing the flip yourself will test a any marriage, especially newly married people.

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

I don't remember their names but people from the War College helped us redo the electrical and plumbing for cost which was amazing.