1st Real Estate Purchase

[Josh Yeary]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $125,500
Cash invested: $5,000

This is the first house I purchased one year out of college with a 3.5% down FHA loan. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. At the time I was single with no kids so I rented out the other two rooms to friends, who each paid $450/mo. This covered 75% of my monthly housing costs. Eventually I moved to Seattle and kept this property rented out to different tenants with 12-18 month leases.

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

I wanted to get started in real estate by buying a place close to work with spare rooms I could rent out to friends.

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

MLS and real estate agent.

How did you finance this deal?

3.5% down with FHA loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

Thankfully haven't had to do much to the property over the years. I did replace the AC/Heating system a few years ago.

What was the outcome?

Long term, buy and hold, cash flowing rental. I've since found a great property management company that takes the weight of self managing the property off of my shoulders.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Renting rooms to friends and at the same time being their land lord requires you to carefully walk a fine line.