My first investment really paid off for me

[David Wilson]

When I was in my early 20's I was just starting out with my own painting business. Things were going well and I was doing a lot of work for a couple of  investors in the Pittsburgh market. One day I went to look at a house for one of them in a not so nice but historical part of town. The whole street was paved with brick and you could tell that all the houses were very nice at one time. When we walked in I immediately know that I wanted it. It had 12 foot ceilings and plaster crown molding, as well as most of the original trim. It was in bad shape but I saw the potential. I turned to him and asked him how much he wanted for it. He paused and then said he'd let it go for 40k. I said ok and six weeks later it was mine. After about 4 months of what felt like 24/7 renovation we discovered original hardwood floors, pocket doors and many other features that had been covered up. When it was all said and done I had about another $40k into it(I did use some hard money to pay for the deal and the renovations. After I was all done I had it refinanced for a loan of $85k. I lived there for two years with a friend of mine who paid me rent until my fiancé moved in. We lived there for four more years and had our first child there. Many changes happened in the neighborhood during the six years I owned it. There was quite a bit of renovation all over the area. When we decided to sell we listed the property for $190k. It sold for 170k. It was a great feeling knowing that my hard work paid off and I was able to put down a nice chunk on our dream house and pay the rest of our debt. I have dabbled in a few other deals since but the growth of my business and having little kids have kept my desire to do more real estate deals at bay. My business is now running smoothly without as much demand from me  and my kids are at a much easier age . I stumbled across this site and it has inspired me to get back into the game. I currently own one duplex and now I'm trying to look and put together my next deal and ten year plan of being semi retired by 50. Thanks for reading!