First SFR Investment

[Sean L.]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Davenport, IA.

Purchase price: $90,000
Cash invested: ~$20,500

3/1.5 SFR in IA. Expected to Cash Flow ~$200-240/month after all expenses. 

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

I wanted to pull the trigger on my first investment in 2020 and a lower-priced, turnkey SFR property seemed to fit the bill for my first acquisition. I'm in a high CoL area so chose to go remote.

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

I worked with one of the turnkey providers mentioned on BiggerPockets.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional Mortgage - 20% down

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I probably jumped in a little more quickly than I should have. I underestimated taxes and insurance which will eat into my originally underwritten cash flow projections. I'm also learning what reasonable expectations are for communication timelines from my PM. The property was occupied when I closed in early November 2020 and as of mid-January 2021 I'm still waiting on my first rent checks and statements ect.

[Sean L.]

@Andy Collins Apologies for the delay here..

Frankly, this investment has been a loser. That's not to say the market is bad but I was referred to a property management company which turrned out to be about as capable as my dog would have been. The tenant only paid one month of rent in 2021 but thankfully I was made whole through the various rental assistance programs available to tenants. About 5 months in I finally pulled the trigger and switched to a new property manager and they have been great so far. The yield isn't where I would like it due to sub-optimal tenant and property management issues but I would buy more units in Davenport having learned quite a bit through this experience.