3 bdr over 3bdr in Winslow, Maine

[Michael Picher]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $128,000
Cash invested: $28,000

A nice 3 bdr over 3bdr duplex in a great neighborhood. This 1950's building has great bones and beautiful hardwood floors throughout. There are 2 separate driveways and private entrances for each unit as well. This is also our first partnering deal.

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

Already have another duplex in this neighborhood. Duplexes are easy and you can get a little more $ for them vs. larger apartment buildings.

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

This property was FSBO for a while at an unreasonable price (for investing). It then came on the market as a short sale. Jumped on it quickly and got in a little bidding war. Finally I told my agent to offer $500 over the other party's best offer up to $133k. This strategy worked and we got it for $130,500. There were some small issues from inspection that helped us knock the price down to $128k.

How did you finance this deal?

Partnership for down payment and standard commercial financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

Brought my knowledge of the area, our operating procedures and my commercial financing.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

A good property is a good property... stick with it despite what's going on around you. We almost walked away from this. We were supposed to sign the week that all the closings happened. We put the deal on hold for a month initially. At the end of that month, we were going to walk away and our agent suggested seeing if the seller would hold out for 2 more months vs. us walking away. They agreed. So after 3 months of being on hold, we decided to close on this. I'm glad we did.