First Investment Deal done and Rented

[Eric Meyer]

Well, I was always the negative person when it came to real estate investing. I don't have the money, i don't have the time, or I don't want the midnight calls. After seeing my friends be successful with little effort, I was now interested. I started my journey of research. My friends always tease me that I have a unique set of skills of researching stuff, so they always came to me, so I decided to use my skills for my own gain. August 2017, I began reading as many real estate books as I could, beginning with Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I was determined and motivated now. I stumbled upon BP and read more and more. On November 9, 2017, I made my first offer on a duplex (two houses on same lot) that needed a little help and a landlord that knew how to run things, (so I hoped). I closed on this property on December 27, 2017 and inherited tenants. Now it was time put all this knowledge to work. Front house tenants stayed and signed a new lease with me, without batting an eye. They had  some very minor requests that I quickly repaired. They never had that before.

  Now for the back house, I had to get the tenant out and do necessary maintenance and repairs, which turned into a mild/mini rehab. The place was like an onion, with every layer a new problem. So now I found myself over budget and over time frame. Now the scary part came, finding a tenant. I had one without listing it, friend of front tenants. Did all the verifications and checks. What a great tenant to be I thought. Only problem, I had to hold the property two weeks. No biggie, got a deposit. Two days before lease signing i get a call and he lost his job. I called and verified with now past employer. No I know this was a bad business practice, but I felt the right thing to do was refund his deposit. No the search was on. After countless calls and emails. I had a new tenant in less then a week, March 3, 2018. Sorry for the long story, It feels great to share it. Now its time for numbers and pictures.

Purchase Price: $79,200

Front House: 3 bed, 1 3/4 bath

- old rent: $700/yard maintenance and snow removal

- new rent: $800/yard maintenance and snow removal

- repairs: $300

Back House: 2 Bedroom, 1 bath

- old rent: $500

- new rent: $775

- Repairs: $8863 (new bathroom, some plumbing, electrical, all doors, wall repair/paint, kitchen counter top/sink/faucet, refinish floors, blinds, and many other small items

Garage:

- old rent: $0

- new rent: $100

So I was scared going into this, but after collecting the first full months rent, I'm all smiles.