First REI - Success Story from Dayton Ohio

[Ian Oxender]

My wife and I discovered our interest in real estate while purchasing our primary residence in 2014. I then began the process of trying to learn about REI and reached out to a few friends; one of them recommended the BP podcast. After listening to several success stories of everyday people investing in real estate, I decided to go for it. Luckily, I had a friend at work that had a similar mindset and was also interested in getting in the game. We started by drafting a few basic goals and decided that a down payment would be much more reasonable if we shared the cost. Approximately a year went by of brainstorming and taking notes from the BP podcasts. These notes eventually developed into a strategy and an official 50/50 partnership was made. During that year of research, we tried to cover as many details about our business relationship and REI strategy as possible to create a solid foundation for our partnership. We eventually decided that we were ready for action and in March of 2016 we formed a LLC. We had a realtor helping us look for properties but eventually found an off-market deal from my partner's family friend who is working to liquidate and eventually retire. In May, we submitted an offer on an occupied duplex and by the beginning of July we had already received our first rent check. We started by setting up a meet and greet with our tenants and learned their desire to have a functioning garage. Fast forward a few months and we now have a renewed lease for both units. We even fixed up the garage and in turn, increased rent from $475 to $550. Our current numbers are as follows:

$72,000 purchase price

$18,000 down payment

$13,800 annual rent ($600+$550 rent/month)

My partner and I liked the idea of a buy and hold strategy for a duplex, since we only needed one unit occupied to cover our monthly mortgage payment of $525. As both sides of the duplex were already occupied, no immediate updates were required. However, as mentioned above, we did put approximately $700 into a new garage door and opener. We are extremely happy we took action to enter into the REI game and we're excited to share our success story with the BP community. We are now in the process of searching for a second investment property and would like to connect with wholesalers in the Dayton Ohio area.