South End Condo - Foreclosure

[Brooke Cottrell]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $100,000
Cash invested: $18,000

Forclosure listing - purchased in 2012
700 sq. ft.
1 BR / 1 BA
SouthEnd Neighborhood of CLT

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

I had been renting out another condo in the same complex for four years prior when I came across this foreclosure. I knew the area was rapidly becoming more and more desirable and would (generally) be easy to find a quality tenant.

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

I found this deal while running a "landlord" errand at the other unit I owned.
I've now owned this property for over 7 years; so I don't remember the details of the negotiation, but remember that landing on an agreed upon price was more challenging than I had imagined. (This also could have been my frame of reference at the time.)

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional --- Bigger Pockets or BRRRR was not even on my radar at this point.

How did you add value to the deal?

This was post closing; but I did put ~$15K into the unit to make sure the finishes would warrant the rent I wanted to charge.

What was the outcome?

So far so good. I am just now on my 3rd tenant; so have been fortunate to have renters who stay for 2+ years.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

1.) Knowing what I know now, I could have spent considerably less on the renovations.
2.) I was charging less than market rate....no wonder they stayed so long. Duh! I recently flipped this over to a property manager who more than pays for itself through higher rental rates and less stress for me.

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

White Property Management www.whitepropertymgmt.com