First Rental Property - Northern Kentucky

[Timothy Boyd]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Williamstown.

Purchase price: $136,000
Cash invested: $2,500

Duplex built in 1999. 3 Bed/2.5 Bath on each side. The cashflow listed above is before taking after budgeting $200/month for CAPEX, $113.33/month regular maintenance, and $142.50/month in property management (currently self managing). Have some repairs to do on the gutters, flooring, fixtures, and windows but overall a really nice property. My wife and I are super excited about this one as it is our first rental property.

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

I know that rentals are the key to long term wealth building, so wanted to get the train moving!

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

MLS. Minimal negotiation, but we leveraged the inspection to get some credited towards our closing costs.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional 25% down investment property loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

Currently working through the maintenance items. Will need to rehab the floors in one unit when tenants go on a trip. The value add will be relatively slow as we inherited tenants on both sides.

What was the outcome?

Going great so far. Heading there to do some improvements/maintenance every few weeks. Upping the rents by $50/month in the new year to get them closer to market (rents had not changed in years for the tenants). Very grateful to have this deal and get the journey started.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Although we are thrilled to be in the game now, we will be looking to leave less cash in the next deal. If we can employ the BRRRR strategy going forward, we will be able to scale much faster and achieve financial freedom in a much more reasonable timeframe.

Some challenges with the lack of records with the previous landlord. We made up forms for everything they were lacking and had them sign during inspection period. Thankfully the tenants seem like very good people and families.

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

Johnny Hodge Coldwell Banker - Great realtor and friend.
Ravi Patel Guaranteed Rate - Great mortgage lender. Very helpful through the whole process.