Buy and Hold Success

[Lisa Sullivan]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Dover.

Purchase price: $196,500
Cash invested: $30,000
Sale price: $273,500

Initially bought for our son to live in with roommates while in college, so he essentially lived for 'free'. We kept it and rented it after he graduated. Sold for a cash out of $$105,700.52

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

Wanted to keep down college debt and start RE investing.

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

We used a real estate agent to help us identify a property that met our criteria.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA financed with low down payment. At the time, we let our son 'buy' it as a first time homeowner, with us as 'non-occupying co-borrowers'. We provided the low down payment, then he got that back from the government after he lived in it for 2 years I think. That was a special program back then, not sure if it's still done.

How did you add value to the deal?

We took excellent care of the property - no deferred maintenance.

What was the outcome?

We walked away with over $100K!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

At first we managed the property ourselves. We soon realized that hiring a property manager was well worth the money. They got better tenants, dealt with all the leases and advertising, collected the rents, and handled the problems so we didn't get the 3am phone calls.

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

I became an agent to have access to the MLS and be able to do the buy and sell paperwork myself.