My First House purchase

[Ivona Blazevic]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $76,000
Cash invested: $25,000

Bought a foreclosure to fix and rent. Got divorced at that time which threw a wrench into plans so rental was put on a backburner. Every single surface in the house was redone/replaced.

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

I bought another property years ago for $25000 as another foreclosure that I fixed up, lived in, and ended up selling for $75000. That gave me a bit of a taste of what real estate can do if you find the right deal but I had no idea what I was doing at the time.

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

It popped up in the town I live in and I just knew this was the one I needed to buy. Since it was a foreclosure and it was right before Covid hit, there were not a lot of people looking at it. I got lucky.

How did you finance this deal?

It was a standard loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

I made the layout more user friendly, added a whole wall of closets in the main bedroom, totally gutted kitchen and bath. Took soffits down (whoever invented soffits should be shot if not dead), new flooring, new paint, new roof (thanks hailstorm), refinished the deck.

What was the outcome?

Very pretty small house with a great mortgage payment

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Things will take twice as long and cost about twice as much as you think they will. Challenges with finding people who want to do a smaller projects and not cost exorbitant amount of money

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

My handyman was great, but sadly he moved to Mississippi.