We ended up replacing the kitchen countertops with granite, replacing the water heater, and painting some of the walls before leasing it out. Great neighborhood. We're doing the property management ourselves for now (since the prices are higher and this is one of our first properties, hiring a company didn't make a ton of sense) so cash flow is between $400 and $500 a month. Looking back, this was more of a deal I needed to do to get over my own mental barriers and learn the process of investing, although the overall returns are definitely not bad. As my wife and I went through the process of buying the property and renting it out, I took notes of all the steps we took so I can systematize them out for this and future properties.

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

A RE agent reached out to me on BiggerPockets and said he could help me reach my real estate goals. I had been wanting to get into real estate for years, but I felt like I'd have to wait a few more years before saving up enough for the DP since I lived in Northern VA and prices are expensive here. After looking at a few different areas, I realized that by going just a little further south, some homes were more in our price range.

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

MLS - paid slightly under asking value because it had been on the market for 3+ months. We also got a big credit on closing costs from the seller.

How did you finance this deal?

Personal savings, 20% down.

Lessons Learned?

1. Hiring a professional photographer was totally worth it - we had lots of people who wanted to do a showing based on the photos.
2. If you're like me, you have to do the thing to actually learn it. No amount of forum post reading or watching videos could've taught me what I learned by just finding a property, buying it, and renting it out. It's like the ultimate crash course. An expensive one, but very worth it - especially since you're profiting as soon as it's over.
3. Cozy is amazing.
4. Your spouse definitely needs to be on board. It took lots of begging and going over numbers and more begging to convince my wife to let me try this, but honestly I couldn't have done it without her. With a full time job, there were some showings that would've been really hard to do alone. Plus, I've learned that she has much more of a business mindset than myself, which has been very helpful.

Kitchen Before Renos: