First Investment Property in Downtown Athens Ga

[Hayden Salyer]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $225,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Bought my first rental property for my brother to live in while he goes to college at UNG. Because of his good credit (being an authorized user on one of my credit cards) he was able to be put on the loan and the deed, which allowed us to qualify for an owner-occupied loan. It is a top/bottom duplex and he lives in one of the rooms downstairs and has tenants upstairs as well as a roommate downstairs which pays for more than the mortgage.

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

It allowed my brother to house hack and live for free, also it gives him an easy job as a property manager and I get cash flow every month.

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

I found it on the MLS. It was on for 3 days and we put an offer on it the night we saw it.

How did you finance this deal?

We did a conventional owner-occupied mortgage (since my brother cosigned) and we only put 5% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

We fixed up some of the inside of the house (mainly the downstairs kitchen). And put good paying tenants in it.

What was the outcome?

He is currently living there and we are currently getting cash flow every month!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We almost lost our offer to an all-cash deal. Luckily we put in a backup offer that got accepted. So learned to try and pay cash but always put in backup offers if yours don't get accepted.

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

I worked with my favorite lender, Craig Cramer at Brand Mortgage and September Hoeler at Reign Realty. They were great at helping me with my first investment property and Craig even helped me with my primary residence before that.