We found this house on the MLS and are able to rent it for $1325. In order to secure conventional financing at a lower rate (4.5%) we put down 25%. The remaining cash invested is closing costs and about $5,000 in rehab that we accomplished in the days immediately after closing. We are learning a ton about the Grand Rapids market and are looking to be more aggressive in our deal sourcing and negotiating on the next one.

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

I own a rental house in Pensacola, FL that I purchased as a primary residence and house-hacked while in flight school. After moving from FL, I kept the home and it has been a solid investment ever sense.

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

I found this house on the MLS and negotiated the price down after the home inspection came back with some issues I did not know about prior to putting the home under contract. I asked for a price reduction of $5,000 with another $2,500 back at closing and they lowered the price by $3,000 and gave back $2,500 at closing.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a conventional 30 year loan with 25% down through a local credit union.

How did you add value to the deal?

I made some minor repairs to the home prior to renting it out.

What was the outcome?

It is currently rented at $1,325 a month (allowing a $240/mo cashflow)

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I overpaid for this house a bit. I used my entire emergency fund to pay for the down payment and rehab of the property. There were some cosmetic issues that I deferred that I would have fixed up front if I were to do this deal again in the future.

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

My agent for this purchase was Jake Thomas - he is an active member of the BP community.

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