Had a couple investment houses, but this is my first investment home. I sold both properties in VA and paid for almost have of this up front and remodeled it with the rest of my savings.

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

I moved to the West coast because I saw that Spokane county was exploding with real estate prices. I started to get discouraged because it was getting impossible to find a decent priced home in my price range of 215k or less. The market was extremely competitive so I had to act quickly.

I wanted a home that I was going to pay off so that I had the freedom to retire young once I figured out how to get some passive income going. I love this area and absolutely love this house so I am making it how I want it. It's my corporate office and my safe haven for when I need to get away from everything else. Next is to learn how to get some wholesaling down and transition back home so I don't have to live out of the country anymore just to make a decent wage as a mechanic.

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

I scoured MLS for weeks when I moved to Spokane and saw a handful of properties that I actually wanted. This house was in terrible shape on the inside but it was all cosmetic. The owners and renters never gave a damn about this house but I saw its potential so I made a very competitive offer myself. I paid asking price of 205,000 and I'll cover my own closing costs. Even with the perfect sell like that the seller was still extremely difficult to deal with.

How did you finance this deal?

VA loan, sold both of my investment properties in Virginia and combined with my savings before I got out of the Navy was able to pay for almost half of this house in cash.

How did you add value to the deal?

There was a ton of work that needed to get done on this house so that the VA appraiser would approve, the seller was NOT happy but I was able to knock 2,000$ off the asking price. The seller was a royal pain in my behind but I got what I wanted.

What was the outcome?

I closed on the house in late August and with my full time 50 hour a week job had to commute an hour in either direction from where I was living to where I was working and this house but was able to get the bottom floor gutted and renovated in about 3 weeks flat. I was on a tight time line because I picked up a job out of the country and needed to get at least the bottom floor livable. I now currently have a friend watching the house for me while I work out of the country. Thank god for him.

I've since paid off the house entirely and I'm still working out of the country to fund the rest of the remodel. The house is already appraised over 300k and I've only owned it for 2 years. Just astounding how the market out west is.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Biggest challenge for me was the seller and my time crunch. I offered the seller asking price AND to pay my own closing costs. He made me jump through hoops, missed appointments, ignored our calls, and even left the state on the day of closing. This guy was a real piece of work.

On top of that the biggest challenge was funding to get the bottom floor livable in just a few weeks. I dumped so much money into the down payment that I only had so much left to work with before I left the country.

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

Yes I did, pm me for details. She was a lot of fun to work with and was very supportive through all the difficult things the seller was causing.