Looking back on my first deal...

[Zach Webster]

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $146,000
Cash invested: $29,000
Sale price: $165,000

This was a pocket listing I heard about and was the first property I ever purchased. My wife and I put every penny we had into it, managed it 100% hands on,. After we had reached a stabile point with the building we decided to sell it and put it up as a for sale by owner. We earned our cash back that we put into the offer, plus walked away with an extra $16k

Fun Fact: My wife gave birth to our third child just 16 days after we purchased this property. I don't recommend that strategy ;)

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

My typical strategy is buy & hold, multifamily deals, but I had a connection with the seller of this property. He had been in the business in my local market since the 1970s and was looking to retire. He wanted a fair price for this property, plus he was pretty old-school so his rents were really low and he had done all of the maintenance (poorly) himself. There was a ton of room to add value, from management of the property to the condition of the units.

How did you add value to the deal?

I implemented several strategies from a management perspective. Rents weren't being paid on time to the previous owner, one tenant wasn't paying rent at all and several maintenance issues were contributing to an extremely high utility bill. I fixed these issues first and as problematic tenants turned over, I did cosmetic improvements to those units that helped to increase rents.