1st Investment prop - bought at 23 yrs old at Auction!

[Jennifer Goodyear-Counts]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in York.

Purchase price: $157,000

Bought property in 2010 at auction; painted & new flooring throughout, it has a large outbuilding that we still use for storage. I placed tenants that have been there for almost 10 years and pay rent on time every single month.

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

I managed City properties for years and watched them get wrecked by tenants...
Was more interested in a nice "starter home" in highly rated Dallastown schools as I knew that I could find tenants willing to pay a higher rent.

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

Listed by an auction house; I went alone at only 23 yrs old (did have a mortgage preapproved), and almost had a heart attack when I won the bidding! Learned alot through this investment...no inspections with auctions. In the 1st ten years of owning I had to pay $20k to dig new sand mound (on site septic caved in), AND had THREE drunk drivers land in the house & knock it off foundation.

How did you finance this deal?

Pre-approved for 1st mortgage.
$10 grand down - borrowed from family member & pd back in full w/i 5 years
Lived there for 1 year through renovation
Solid tenants in place almost 10 years now, never paid rent late, rent pays mortgage with $400 Cash Flow

How did you add value to the deal?

-Updating the flooring & painting entire home made the home more modern and able to get higher rent amount
-Using outbuilding for our storage saves us from having to rent storage unit. Just put up pole building at personal home so goal is to move items over and rent the outbuilding at rental as storage space in the near future.

What was the outcome?

Today it is a good investment. It did take awhile to get to this point.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

MANY. First home ever purchased, first home ever lived in as adult & bought at auction! On top of those challenges it had on site septic and well water. Learned a ton about these utilities that has helped me in my career as a realtor today.

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

No, this one was done on my own....I dont recommend that!