From rental to first home to now investment property

[Kristoffer A Dowgiewicz]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Philadelphia.

Purchase price: $275,000
Cash invested: $20,000

Two-bedroom one and a half bath in the heart of South Philadelphia with a one-of-a-kind yard.

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

This was our first home, we had an interesting path to this property as I rented it for three years before purchasing from a family member. This property is in South Philadelphia, which is a heavily congested area where homes are small and yards are smaller, but this property had a unique offering of an 18x33 side yard. The house itself is only 805 sq ft, but the yard made the home feel like a "mansion".

That's why we knew we had a unique property in a sea of sameness we could easily rent the

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

This was a special case for sure as I had been interested in real estate investing for many years but had no cash and not ready to make the jump. However, I am lucky enough to have a great family and my uncle was tired of the amount of money I was spending on rent and the quality of rentals I was living in so he said why don't you just pay me.

I set out to find the perfect deal where I could update and keep up and rent from him. This was that property and I bought it three years later.

How did you finance this deal?

This was our first home, so we used conventional financing and our own cash for the down payment.

How did you add value to the deal?

I rented the spare room to my friend and handled all problems or updates, so all my uncle did was collect rent. Three years later I bought the property for a small increase over what he paid.