Gave them the "I don't want to buy your home" price

[Todd Henson]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Poplar Bluff.

Purchase price: $10,000
Cash invested: $22,000

Single Family home that was previously used as a rental.

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

They seller called us to buy this house. I did not want to buy it at first. But we ran our numbers.

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

We have a small, local company that buys houses. They called us to come look at it to get rid of it. My wife and I are partners in the company. She is the sweet one and detail minded. I am the real estate agent that looks at the numbers and the 'bigger picture' Once we met the older couple selling the house, she won them over with her charm and I was the blunt negotiator. We usually leave to run the numbers, but with a quick walkthrough, I shot from the hip. I didn't plan on buying the house.

How did you finance this deal?

We paid cash for this house.

How did you add value to the deal?

We replaced siding, windows, doors, flooring, trim, paint, light fixtures, interior hardware, installed HVAC, enclosed carport/storage to make a laundry room, repaired bathrooms, plumbing, and electric.

What was the outcome?

We intended on selling the house 'as-is' after we closed on it to make a quick $5,000. But the investors we called did not see throught the mess. We started doing light work and clean up, but accidently spent $20k on it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We did not expect to keep this house as a buy and hold rental. We palnned on buying it and making a quick wholesale flip. Once we started cleaning it up an painting we couldn't stop. It started looking better and better. We are not ones to leave a project half done, so we decided to do an entire remodel on this home and making it look like new. We learned that when you can buy a property cheap enough, you really can not go wrong with the outcome. Now we have a cash flowing rental we own outright

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

I am a professional agent, so that gave me an edge on being able to evaluate the deal going in.