Great TH rental and simple lessons learned

[Richie Choy]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment in Cartersville.

Purchase price: $121,000
Cash invested: $47,875

Family-friendly rental with a ton of space, rental market is strong and has performed well with diligent tenant screening.

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

I was on the search for a good 1% deal in the Metro Atlanta area, like many others!

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

A fantastic realtor came across it that we had been connected with. We sat down and talked through pricing that made sense for his situation.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional

How did you add value to the deal?

Detailed and diligent tenant screening. The rental market is strong, but it's also a place where there are a lot of bad tenants to choose from.

What was the outcome?

Great buy-and-hold that I've kept. While the cash flow is great, it's also more investment progress and motivation to keep making moves and meeting people.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

A lot of basic things that I've heard 100 times: 1. Renovation budget goes over 2. Being on the wrong end of the "maintenance curve" is a big deal.

More excitingly - I had a lender I was working with that was charging me a full 1% over the going interest rate. I was committed to him and even got a referral from another investor. In the middle of the contract, I happened to run it by someone else and swapped out my financing and saved a TON.

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

1. Amazing realtor
2. Amazing lender