21st birthday = Duplex?

[Tony Sawah]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $130,000

Cash invested: $30,000

Purchased the two-flat (Duplex) property at the end of March in 2017 for 130k with a loan and performed cosmetic improvements to the property and ended up creating a rental income of $2300 off of that property. I have a property management company now managing it and I am now out of state and live in San Antonio, TX looking to perform my next deal

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

I was 20 at the time and was about to turn 21 and was thinking about purchasing a nice luxury condo in downtown Chicago in the River North neighborhood. I had a coworker of mine who owned 3 multifamily properties in Chicago who inspired me to go the multifamily route. My first question was.... Aren't those properties worth millions of dollars? Boy was I Wrong...

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

I found this deal on the MLS plain and simple and worked with one of my really good friends and knowledgeable investors, Steve to negotiate the price from a 145k to a 130k price.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA Baby!

How did you add value to the deal?

I've made cosmetic updates to the property as the cosmetics were out of date and would result in below market rent.

What was the outcome?

First year was shaky as I invested a lot into the property. Stainless steel appliances, flooring, tile, laundry hookups. Second year beginning to recover, and third year now thriving :)

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Go with a professional and trusted property management company. DONT take shortcuts and try to cheap yourself out of things. a big Mistake I made was that I trusted someone to manage my property for $100 a month while I Was out of state. Boy did I get ripped off. Every month he reported stuff on the property saying this and that was broken and my gullible self believed him and end up paying nearly lost $5,000 to that. Never happening again.

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

As for Multifamily properties in Chicago, yes!
Multiunitchicago.com - Steve Anderson