Our small start to something BIG!

[David Clark Roper Jr.]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Hueytown.

Purchase price: $50,000
Cash invested: $20,000

We bought our first single family home, a 2/1 with minimal work needed. We renovated the laundry room, added a refrigerator and painted the cabinets to bring a fresh, clean look, along with a little bit of hands-on TLC we did ourselves on weekends and during our lunch breaks.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We wanted to create our first passive revenue stream and thought a deal of this size would be a perfect fit for us to start and learn with.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

The listing was on Zillow for several months with 2 price drops. We used the listing agent for the purchase.

How did you finance this deal?

We put 25% down and financed the rest through a local mortgage company.

How did you add value to the deal?

We painted the cabinets that were outdated but in solid shape. The laundry room had cracked wood paneling walls and peeling vinyl flooring that we replaced with peel and stick vinyl planks, and added 1/4" sheetrock and new beadboard wood paneling for an updated look. We bought a new stainless steel refrigerator, pressure washed the house as well as the deck and painted the front railing.

What was the outcome?

So far so good, we listed with an agent who has extensive experience in rentals. She brought tremendous value by walking through the property and suggesting things to fix that would matter to prospective renters, as well as screening the calls and showing the property. She only charged us the first months rent which we felt was more than reasonable.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The first thing I learned is how much harder and at the same time, easier this was than I anticipated. The process itself was not nearly as intimidating as we expected it to be once we got started. However, the time it took to take care of all the small things we didn't consider, really added up (turning utilities on/off, time in transit going to the property, finding a truck to borrow when we needed one). As we grow we will continue to build a team that we can outsource these tasks to.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Melissa Decarlo @ Renesant Bank was fantastic, also Christi Knowles @ ERA King as our rental agent.