First rental property whoo! (triplex)

[Cathy Bui]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $398,000
Cash invested: $100,000

It's been an adventure to close on this triplex in West Sacramento, CA! Now begins the journey of managing this investment...

High level timeline
July 20 Became interested in buying a home.
Nov 29 Decided to buy rental property
Dec 7 Started touring properties
Dec 28 In contract with triplex
Jan 24 Closed

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

Near where I live.
Good ratio between rent and price of house.
Had existing long time tenants who paid so there wasn't a need to search for tenants.

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

Scoured redfin, drove by, told real estate agent, found out sellers were somewhat desperate, asked for 10k below asking and got in contract.

How did you finance this deal?

Went with a credit union that had 3.625% for rental property with 1.75% points. 25% down.

What was the outcome?

The inspections revealed that many repairs were needed. Got 10k in seller's credit for repairs.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The triplex has lots of deferred maintenance. There are issues with tenants. I underestimated the amount of property management work this requires. Next time, I would ask for a lower price.
There was a maximum on the seller's credit enforced by the lender we didn't know about until close to closing day. This was stressful.

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

Lender: Stanford Federal Credit Union. Real estate buyer's agent: Mairin Haley.