Our only somewhat speculative purchase

[Julee Felsman]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Vancouver.

Purchase price: $202,000
Cash invested: $20,200

Cute brick bungalow in the Arnada neighborhood of downtown Vancouver. Purchased a little speculatively with terrible timing... but held on and all's well now.

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

We set out to buy a home in downtown Vancouver, both because we like it and because we were positive that a new I-5 bridge was in the works. Buying in the cute, old part of Vancouver within walking/biking distance of a MAX line to downtown Portland seemed like a great idea. The bridge never happened and then the housing recession did...

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

It was listed in MLS, in the area we liked, small, fairly cheap and super-cute.

How did you finance this deal?

10% down conventional financing (80/10/10). Yup, that was a "thing" on rental purchases before the housing crisis. We paid off the piggyback HELOC pretty quickly and have subsequently refinanced to a 15 year note.

How did you add value to the deal?

Our renters stay for years on end, but every time the property turns over, we try to make at least one cosmetic upgrade.

What was the outcome?

This will never be our best buy... sure wish we'd bought it 2 years later at 75% or 80% of the price. But it's been easy to rent and is worth well more than we paid for it now. And who knows? Maybe that light rail line across the Columbia will happen some day?