First deal in the books!

[Jason Woodford]

I'm excited to announce that I locked up my first rental property in July! I'm a bit delayed with this post because I've had a lot going on over the past couple of months but still wanted to share my story. I was (and still am) new to real estate investing but it had always been a dream of mine to become a real estate investor so when I found BP earlier this year, it helped me to build my knowledge base and give me the confidence and resources to push forward and start my REI journey!

So, early in the year I began looking at properties, I probably looked at around 15 total. I live in Baltimore (county), MD so to find properties that were within my price range ($150K and below) I had to look mostly in the city or city/county line. I eventually came across a property that was tenant occupied, which was a bonus for me because I didn’t have to take the time to market and fill a vacancy. The tenant, though, was a section 8 tenant and this wasn’t something I had thought too much about previously. I met her a couple times and talked with the previous owner about the tenant to get additional information and do some indirect screening and I concluded that I was comfortable with the existing tenant, who was a very nice lady. Section 8 requires additional registration and paperwork but my overall experience has not been bad so far.

The property is older and needs some updates – I knew right off the bat it needed a new roof so I budgeted for that. After the initial look I went back a second time with a contractor (who is a friend of mine) to get his thoughts and he didn’t see anything that looked bad so I pushed forward. One issue that came up was when I was getting insurance quotes my agent mentioned that there was a large water claim put in about 4 years earlier – this was quite concerning for me. I teetered on what to do, continue with this property or start looking for others. The numbers were really good on this unit so I decided I would just do my due diligence, got all the paperwork from the previous owner to verify all the work was done and substantiate what the cost were actually for. It made me feel a bit more comfortable but in the back of my mind I was still quite nervous. The numbers were great on this property though so I didn’t want it to stop me – I just had to keep telling myself there is proof the work was done and the problem was fixed so it shouldn’t be an issue going forward. After overcoming that obstacle I continued forward and eventually closed on the house in early July. What I got to see first hand that I had heard from many of you out there in various posts, podcasts, etc. is that there are always challenges and unexpected issues that came up but don’t let it deter you from your end goal. Rather, use those circumstances to help build our foundation, enhance your problem solving skills and expand your knowledge to grow as an investor. That’s what I did and I feel more confident today having gone through this experience.

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy post but I wanted to share my story at a high level. This is just the beginning for me and I owe it to BiggerPockets and the BP community for providing a forum for new real estate investors to learn, network, and share resources. I surely would not be where I am right now if I hadn’t discovered this website several months ago. I’m very excited about what the future holds and can’t wait to get started on my next investment! Thanks everyone!

- Jason Woodford