Some things my first property has taught me.

[Gary Dale McKee]

Hey, guys I thought I would share a little about how my first investment property has went so far and some of the the mistakes I have made.  I closed on a duplex in late October 2016.  The seller was an investor who needed some cash quickly, he was the perfect motivated seller.  Mistake number1, I did a horriable job of negotiating. I bought the property for $125K but am now confident that i left $15K on the table.  Mistake number 2, I did not look the property over anywhere near good enough.  The duplex was build in 1998 and hasn't had any care since.  There was a ton of work that needed to be done, nothing really major but definitely enough that I could have used for negotiative purposes.  One of these things is the fact that one of the tenants had a large dog in the unit, the unit was all carpet and the dog had destroyed the carpet.  So, that mistake cost me the price tag of a new floor.  Anyways shortly after closing both of the tenants that where in the property broke their leases and bam, there i sat with 100% vacancy.  Another lesson I learned is that the end of the year is rough for filling vacancies.  I had enough cash to get me through the drought and get the needed repairs done.  That's another thing i feel is important when buying your first property, have some cash so you don't have to hit the panic button to quickly.  In mid January I filled both units with great tenants and now cash flowing $505 a month.