Rental - Duplex 3/1 - 2/1

[Patrice Boenzi]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $134,000
Cash invested: $33,500

Duplex - Cash Cow

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

I liked the fact that one unit would cover all expenses (mortgage, insurance, water, taxes)

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

I used a Realtor - My Realtor saw the other Realtor putting up the sign and asked why he did not see it in the MLS. The listing Realtor said he was going to put it in the MLS when he got back to his office. My Realtor asked if he could go through it, told the listing Realtor he had a buyer, and we offered $10K above list price to keep it out of the MLS.

How did you finance this deal?

We did conventional financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

We updated the bathroom and some flooring

What was the outcome?

We were able to raise the rents

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons learned - in a duplex vacancy is not really an issue when you only need one tenant to cover costs.

Challenges = sometimes tenants to do not get along and want the property manager to play referee

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

Realtor and Lender