First BRRRR before I knew what a BRRRR was.

[Andrew Deveau]

Investment Info:

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

Side-by-Side 3 bedroom duplex, in central Dartmouth a good hard working blue color neighbourhood.

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

Duplex which allow lower overall operating costs (Taxes, Insurance, etc) and lower risk in that we were not dependent upon a single tenant in case we had a period of time that we could not rent both sides.

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

Our real estate agent had shown us a number of properties before finding this one that just seemed to fit. There were two other offers so our submitted offer was a little over asking, with a quick closing. Our first deal a triplex had fell through during our due diligence phase.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional bank financing, my wife worked at a bank at the time and was able to get favorable financing. With 20% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

We were able to add value to the property by not over paying.

Using sweat equity to learn and ensure costs were controlled.

Targeting the renovations to what would attract good tenants and appeal to the family decision maker when deciding to rent from you. (Kitchen and Bathroom)

What was the outcome?

We still hold the property today and are cash flowing better then when we first purchased the property. We have had to perform some minor repairs since we first purchased it but the tenants have been really good thanks to my wife's diligence during tenant screening.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lesson: Don't under estimate the time required to complete repairs and prepare the property for tenants.

Challenge: Holding your contractor to agreed timelines.

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

The agent we used at the time we never heard from again. So would never had recommended her. All our future deals was done with another agent.