Duplex: Tough Tenant, Tough Construction

[Alyssa Dyer]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $52,000
Cash invested: $4,600

Man, if expletives were allowed on Bigger Pockets I'd use a ton of them to describe this deal.

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

I have wanted to get into this part of town for a while and struggled to find the right deal. When this one came up it was a duplex for under$50k, right in the part of town I wanted to buy in, and condition didn't seem too terrible.

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

This property was on the MLS. We had worked with the agent before and I think that helped us get the deal.

How did you finance this deal?

We got a commercial loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

We replaced the roof and (still plan to do) a light remodel to one side and a full remodel to the other.

What was the outcome?

This one is still coming, haha. I planned on house hacking this property, doing a light remodel to one side while I lived there, and then doing a full gut to the other side when the tenant moved out. The tenant in place ended up showcasing some mental health struggles that made me opt out of house hacking. We finally finished her eviction and now that the house is vacant we will get it remodeled and leased out!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I should have done homework on the tenant. I do it for clients all the time and just skipped the step for myself. Removing her from the home prior to closing, or at least filing the eviction sooner would have saved me a ton of time/money.