My 1st investment rental!

[Elysia Hou]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Charleston.

Purchase price: $111,500
Cash invested: $22,000

James island condo.

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

First the price was in my affordable range and I liked the location of it.

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

Real estate agent helped me find it and offered close to listing. Most of the negotiations occurred under contract.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional fixed rate Mortgage

How did you add value to the deal?

Sweat equity. All cosmetic upgrades.

What was the outcome?

Positive cash flow! Great tenant!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I found a lot of issues with the house through my first tenants who eventually asked me to break the lease without a termination fee. I felt so bad with how things kept breaking down in the house that I let them go. I def needed to vet the property better!

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

The agent I worked with on this helped me find the property but I felt pushed me to overlook a lot of issues I did find earlier in the house by underplaying them. I learned a ton inadvertently from the situation later but I wouldn’t recommend him for first timers.