2nd buy & hold property a 4 unit in Maine

[Carl Hebert]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $172,000
Cash invested: $20,000

4 unit 3 - 1brs 1 bath and a 2br 1 bath 2 car garage.

Once finished house hacking the first unit we moved into another and stayed there till 2019. Rented the 1st fl out for $1100

Started staying in Florida in the winter and at a camp in Maine in the summer.
Moved out of unit and did an inexpensive refresh and rented it out for $825

Currently collect $3300 a month

Current apprasial is $206k

This building was bought as an investment property, unlike the first which was for family.

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

We were searching for a place to call our own (move from sharing with in-laws) and expand our portfolio. This is located in a great neighborhood and knew we could get top rents for the units. We liked having a garage to put the car in while we were overseas.

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

Our agent brought this to our attention when it was at $185k and we negotiated a deal after the apprasial and inspections came in for $172k.

How did you finance this deal?

20% down. Through a mortgage broker. Standard 30 year mortgage 4%

How did you add value to the deal?

Cleaned up property, refreshed lots of items from deferred maintence. Remodeled 2br unit and rented out at top of market.
Lived in building from 2015-2019, living free is nice!
Able to use the garage for the business.

What was the outcome?

Nice clean building with great tenants, garage for business use and solid income generator.
Currently collection $705, $670, $1100 and $825 a month in rent. $3300 total.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

House hacking is a pain in the ***. Seemed like everything took longer,controlling dust was tough and sometimes we would leave a project partially done to come back and scratch head to figure out what we were up to lol!

Also during the process of closing we found a section of the deed giving the tenant on the first floor the right to stay in the unit forever at a fixed rent! Had to have that removed before the bank would close. Fun stuff.

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

Debbie Bodwell at RMS was great.