This was one of those dreamlike buys where you see something too good to be true on the MLS, so you do what any investor will do and you tell your agent to make an offer for 10k under asking price. To your surprise and your partners complete frustration, your offer is accepted, and your partner is like, "Where's the money going to come from," because, sure we have emergency reserves, but this is like six-figures of cash, but it just so happens that we have the cash in our HELOC because it's not been repaid to the lenders from the current house we're live-in-flipping, so what the heck, thread the needle, and then you go to a local credit union you heard about from a guy in the community named Wyatt—thank you so much, Wyatt—and you get the property refinanced for $209,500, leaving in 25%, meaning you purchased the home for -$3,000. After paying your contractor for some modernizing touches, you have a slim $2,750 invested. That's some great math.

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

The MLS rarely has deals on it, but this was certainly one.

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

It was listed on a Friday afternoon for $160,000 down from $170,000 a month ago. I asked my agent to offer $150,000 cash. The seller said if we did $152,500, it was a deal. We got a rare steal and took the counter.

How did you finance this deal?

Cash. I am now partnered for the first time with a long-time acquaintance. He put in 25% of the equity. I put in 75%. We refinanced with a local credit union and pulled all our cash back out.

How did you add value to the deal?

We spent $5,500 to update what was a 55-year, one-family-owned house. Was already in great condition.

What was the outcome?

Rented.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This is the rare occasion when the only lesson to takeaway is to offer on houses when they look too good to be true. They may end up being your too-goo-to-be-true.

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

When I use a real estate agent, I use Jay Stahlecker. He's not on BP, but he is a stellar agent. Owns 4 rentals himself, but makes multiple six-figures helping others buy and sell houses. He makes the process painless.