OUR FIRST INVESTMENT PROPERTY!!!

[Trey Morris]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment in Hurricane.

Purchase price: $139,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Our first home we ever bought! 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom and around 850 sq. feet. Before moving into the townhome we did some DIY improvements. My wife and I put in new LVP, painted the walls, changed the hardware on all of the cabinets and repainted them, changed out all the old lighting fixtures and fans and put in granite counter tops. Our families helped us a ton! It was our primary residence for a year before we bought a new house and made this one a rental.

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

We needed a home because we had recently been married, my mother-in-law is a property manager and owns a few properties of her own so we decided that we wanted to become investors!

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

Luckily this was an off-market deal. My mother-in-law knew the agent that was about to list it. The owner was ready to move out and onto something else as soon as possible. That was great for us because we needed one as soon as possible. With both a motivated seller and buyer it make the negotiation process a lot easier.

How did you finance this deal?

We used a conventional loan and took advantage of our buying our first home for only 5% down. We paid for most of the remodel ourselves but the LVP was a gift from my wife's family and the granite was a wedding gift from my family. The rest came out of our pockets.

How did you add value to the deal?

We took a house that smelled and looked like it was our grandmas and we turned it into a modern house that a young couple would love to rent! We painted the peach walls to white and put LVP in all of the kitchen and living room. We wanted carpet in the rooms to make it feel more "homie". We painted the cabinets and refurnished them with new hardware. Lighting needed to be updated so we put in all new lighting. The blinds were a mess so we put new blinds in as well.

What was the outcome?

The value of our home has gone up 60% and is now worth around $220,000! This is due to the remodel and very fast appreciation here in the St. George area.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Some things I loved doing and others I didn't. I HATE CABINETS! I will paint, I will do flooring, I will do some electrical/lighting, but I will never refurbish cabinets myself. I am so glad that I did it but I will never do it again!!!

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

My mother-in-law was our agent and my wife works for her in property management so they covered the deal and the management. They own a local property management company called STG Rentals Property Management. They are awesome and care for each home as if it is their own!