Fixing up an old house into a duplex

[Todd Swalin]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $70,000
Cash invested: $14,000

A partner and I bought this property to fix up and rent out. It was a complete gut job inside and out.

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

It interested me because it is a duplex. The numbers would not work out as well if it were a single family home but it is much more attractive as a duplex.

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

It is just down the road from my house and I drive by it daily.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional bank financing.

How did you add value to the deal?

I found the deal and once it is finished I will manage the property.

What was the outcome?

We are still in the process of fixing the property to make it livable.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The scope of the project increased quite a bit once we started the project. We did not plan to do as much work as we ended up doing.