First rental property in Nashville suburb

[Tommy Brant]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment in La Vergne.

Purchase price: $164,000
Cash invested: $34,000

My first buy and hold property. End unit townhouse. It is a turnkey property, and came with some pleasant surprises along the way. This was a "base hit" for me. I will take it, considering this is the start to my rental portfolio.

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

Low barrier to entry, low investor competition

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

My real estate agent is also an investor, and also rents a townhouse as a rental property.

How did you finance this deal?

I liquidated my previous property, and used part of that cash to fund this.

How did you add value to the deal?

This was a turnkey property. I probably spent $1000 on minor repairs and touchups.
The 'bigger items':
- added a water heater expansion tank
- replaced fluorescent lighting in the kitchen with recessed lighting.

What was the outcome?

After hiring a property manager, this took only a couple weeks to find a tenant, even in the winter months

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons learned:
- HOA covers trash and grass cutting (lower stress/risk)
- HOA ensures outdoor and roof are in order and functional (lower stress/risk)
- Townhomes are SIGNIFICANTLY less to insure
- Townhomes rent just like any other single family home
- I likely won't get lifetime tenants in this location, but am surprisingly getting rents comparable to a more expensive Nashville suburb

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

Gabriel Besleaga with Bill Jakes realty helped me out here. I'd recommend him to anyone looking at properties southeast of Nashville.