First Investment! Lots of mistakes made and lessons learned.

[Liz Lammi]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Huntersville, NC.

Purchase price: $260,000
Cash invested: $40,000

SFH house hack purchased sight unseen out of state in NC. $5k credit for closing costs from seller. $5k check written to contractor for repairs from seller. Will definitely try harder next time to purchase a multi-family instead of SFH. Will also look harder to find an agent that's willing to negotiate below market value.

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

Through a real estate agent

How did you finance this deal?

Second home mortgage & COH

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Everything I wish I did: negotiated the price lower, seen in person before purchasing (worse condition than described), asked more questions, independent termite inspection, checked to make sure the water heater, A/C, and furnace were the correct size for the house, should have went with a smaller mortgage company that actually cared about us: Chase Bank caused us to close 4 weeks after our contract ended and we had to pay the sellers to keep it even though it was Chase's fault.

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

I would NOT recommend Chase Bank.