First Rental Property

[Kyli Soto]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $305,000
Cash invested: $80,000

Single Family home in a 55+ community. 2 Bed 2 Bath, attached 2 Car Garage. Tile throughout. Eventually the kitchen will need to be updated, but the bathrooms are updated and tile floor throughout. 1 tenant for nearly 4 years, just changed out tenant. Roughly $600 per month in positive cash flow.

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

Hope to spend more time here in retirement. Tenants must be 55+ so assumed that tenants wouldn't be problematic.

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

Looked on zillow for several weeks. The week in between Christmas & New Years, I called all the listing agents. Went and viewed about 10 properties, made an offer on one without a buyer's agent, so that the selling agent would double end the deal and they accepted a below ask offer at a time when prices were climbing.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional 30 year investment property home mortgage at 3.25%.

What was the outcome?

Other than a few regular maintenance and wear & tear, we have had minimal expenses. We have had a tenant in the property 100% of the time. We increased the rent slightly after the first 24 month lease and were able to recently increase the rent when the first tenant moved out.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

First tenant was on a fixed income as a retiree, so I was hesitant to increase the rent after the first lease period. The challenge was balancing the relationship between landlord/tenant and a personal/friendly relationship.