First Duplex Experience!

[Daniel Galmarini]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $365,000
Cash invested: $55,000

100 year old duplex - 4 bed, 2 bath on both sides. One side was vacant at time of purchase, and the other side had tenants (for 3 years). 2 private parking spots out back, and plenty of street parking available. Nice location that's a little bit off OSU campus.

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

Being able to live on one side and have tenants on the other side cover the majority of the mortgage.

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

Constantly checking Realtor.com to find it. Then let my realtor work on the negotiations. I offered $15k over asking price right away, since many other properties like this were flying off the market. On another property before this one, I offered $25k over asking and still didn't get the deal.

How did you finance this deal?

15% down. No PMI thankfully. Bank provided the loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

Not sure that I did.

What was the outcome?

Still living here.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I learned to be prepared for other expenses RIGHT AWAY. The first couple months were really overwhelming with trying to fix up the imperfections and getting calls for things breaking. For the next duplex I will have a budget, and only work on projects that are needed at that moment to satisfy the tenants.