Lessons learned from my first deal

[Chris Courteau]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $46,500
Cash invested: $12,000

It's a small duplex, 1 br 1 ba in upper and lower. There was a tenant in each apartment when I purchased it in June 2019. The upper had been in the apartment for 30 years and the lower 20 years, the rents were half of what market should have been but the house needed updates. I have brought the rents up to about 75% of what market should be. Continuing to provide updates and bring up the rent.

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

The duplex was priced so that I could use my own money and a private lender to pay for it. There were long term tenants already in place paying rent each month and I saw many improvements that could be made to bring value to the property.

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

My real estate agent found it and she was great dealing with the listing agent and pulling comps of what it was worth now and would be after repairs.

How did you finance this deal?

A private lender.

How did you add value to the deal?

Replaced windows, updated electrical, plumbing and many little things such as fixing broken light fixtures, doors.

What was the outcome?

I still have this property in my possession.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The tenants when I looked at the property, I asked them what they would want improved and they were very informative. They were less appreciative when I told them the rents were going up because of the money being put into updating the property. While having tenants was a blessing in that money was coming in from the start, it was tough because they had ideas of what was important and I had a different priority list. A vacant property would be easier to update quickly and raise rents.

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

Donna Pease-Howard Hanna, I've used her to purchase my own home twice and this rental. She is very straightforward and helped me get a low price on the property. I would recommend her to anyone.