our first buy and hold in Napa, CA

[Christopher Janney]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Napa.

Purchase price: $405,000
Cash invested: $85,000

2bd/2bth townhome on a private street. Painted interior and kitchen cabinets, new hardware, new appliances, and new flooring. We put it in a land trust and is currently rented to a family member.

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

We needed to 1031 income from another deal, and my mother-in-law needed a new place to live. Napa has a no growth policy, so housing is a pretty fixed quantity for the area, which makes this a very sound, long term investment.

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

We found this through a local agent, and the deal was already very good, and between our offer letter, our down, and the strength of our financing, we beat out other offers.

How did you finance this deal?

30 year fixed.

How did you add value to the deal?

servicing the HVAC, new flooring, new paint and hardware throughout and new appliances.

What was the outcome?

It's our first buy and hold, and it cashflows just fine so far. The HOA is in good shape, and takes care of all exterior as well as all landscaping.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

No challenges. This was easy, but the big lesson was learning about trusts.

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

Yes, a great agent, and I will edit this to add her name in the future. I don't have it at the moment.

[Christopher Janney]

@Weston Couch, we did the land trust for a couple reasons; transferring "ownership" of the property is as easy as changing the beneficiary of the trust, without triggering the "due on sale" clause of the mortgage, and also for protection of this asset from any litigation against us or our company.  "Control everything, and own nothing".