4 Plex investment

[Sabrina Morgan]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $174,000

House hacked, when you could get a loan from a lender at 110% financing; we got cash back at closing. That was a good thing, since we didn't have two nickels to rub together.

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

We were in debt and could barely afford groceries. I knew I wanted to retire comfortably. I was a property insurance agent working with a lender, putting buyers who couldn't afford rent, in a duplex; so they could afford the mortgage with help from the tenant in the other unit. The light went on in my head that I could do the same with a 4 plex.

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

I put an ad in the local newspaper (yes that was a thing back then), stating that I wasn't an agent but, I was searching for a multifamily property for sale by owner.

How did you finance this deal?

A lender/FHA loan 5.75% interest.

How did you add value to the deal?

Focused on being a good landlord. We adopted the previous landlords rules and I studied a lot. When the first tenant moved out it was stressful but we painted the place with a roller and paint brush and rented it out.

What was the outcome?

At that time the rents in the area started to increase so we increased rents after someone would move out, that happened pretty fast since the tenants were worried things would change having new landlords. It was time to buy our own house so we bought one that was about to be built, so we were able to pick out tile etc.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

My lesson is that I stopped investing in real estate. But investments we made allowed us to start our own business and was the focus for the last 20 years.