My first rental property

[Steven Stohlman]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Garfield Heights.

Purchase price: $30,000
Cash invested: $15,000

This was a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house that I added a bedroom and bath in the attic making it a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house. It is a long term rental for me.

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

I was looking to get into flipping a house and listening to BiggerPockets helped open my eyes to rental are a better option for me.

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

I stumbled across this house on Hubzu. I noticed it was listed incorrectly, the property was listed as a 2 bedroom, 1 bath.

How did you finance this deal?

I used my own cash.

How did you add value to the deal?

I added a “master suite” to the attic with a bedroom and a full bath.

What was the outcome?

House has been rented continuously since it was finished.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Always double check the property you are looking at. Sometimes the listing is wrong. In this instance it worked in my favor.

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

I did the work on buying the property but I turned it over to my agent connection so she could get the credit for the deal.