1st investment property in the books!

[Nate Boykin]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $165,000
Cash invested: $20,000

Duplex. Unit A is a 1 bedroom 1 bath with 1,000 sq. ft. Unit B is a 2 bedroom 1 bath with 1,100 sq. ft.

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

I knew I wanted to invest in a small multi-family property, knowing that if one of my units was vacant, the other unit would cover the mortgage of the property! Low risk, great cash flow.

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

I found this deal on the MLS. It had been sitting for 100+ days and had significant price reductions over the length of the listing.

How did you finance this deal?

I work for a real estate firm that has multiple branches and one of the branches is hard money. I was able to utilize them for my financing. We also used a personal friend who loaned us $25,000 with a 10% return on his money within 12 months. Our goal is to refinance the deal in 3-6 months.

How did you add value to the deal?

I completely renovated the 2 bedroom unit, putting about $7,500 in.

What was the outcome?

The first floor unit was previously rented for $825 per month. The tenant left when we purchased the property and it's now being rented for $900.
The 2nd floor unit will be rented for $1,125 per month

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We did the renovations ourselves and it's taken us longer than we wanted. We are still on our schedule but it's been a lot of long nights and weekends. Our next property we will hire out the work so it can get done in a more timely manner.

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

I partnered with a contractor friend of mine who really knows the ins and outs of fixing and upgrading. He's been an absolute huge help.

[Nate Boykin]

@Kevin Zolea - Set a timeline for each area of your project! Plan for the little uncertainties! We ordered 5 new doors only to realize that the strike plate and the door knob were off about 5". Planning for the big items is easy, it's been the little things that have added up for my renovation.