Our first rental. We call it the kitchen house

[Gerald Barron]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Naples.

Purchase price: $250,000
Cash invested: $55,000

Our first rental and total remodel. We originally bought this to live in but our RV trip made us landlords and we haven't looked back! We get great cash flow from this property and have seen wonderful appreciation in the area. We put a lot of blood, sweat, tears into this one so it'll probably be in our portfolio for a long time

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

We originally bought this to live in but it ended up being our first rental.

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

We actually lucked out with this one as we offered well below list price. Fortunately, the owners husband who passed away was military as well so when she found out I was military too she accepted our offer over others she had received.

How did you finance this deal?

VA home loan

How did you add value to the deal?

We gutted this house. Removed as many walls as we could and opened up the entire floor plan. We were going to live in the house so we used higher end materials than we normally would but even with the extra expense the cash flow is still great!

What was the outcome?

A great deal with great cash flow and we have lots of equity in the house now.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I think the best lesson we took away from this is that we could do it. We could not only remodel a house on our own we could be successful rental owners and landlords.

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

Our agent is one of the best in Naples. Bridget Copper Fagan