7 units on three city lots

[Gary Hardin]

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) commercial investment investment in Savage.

This was a no money down deal was a tri-plex, duplex, SFR and studio all on a few city lots. I worked them, remodeled them and made very little money and eventually sold them for little to no profit. But, the lessons I learned have been worth a fortune!

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

I did this when I was about 22-23 years old, only married a couple of years. I had dreams this was going to be the start of income each month with very little work. I read some books and saw the late night advertisements about real estate investing, so I was very interested in this type of property.

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

I found it listed by an agent.

How did you finance this deal?

The seller was willing to do a carryback in the second position and the bank was the primary position.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Here are two lessons: The property was about an hour away and at the time I worked for an employer full time, so it was hard to get over there each weekend to work on it. Also, I really wanted the units to be up to my standard, but I think I spent more on them making them look better with upgrades, etc, than I needed to.