Renting down the street from property gave me advantage, now it's mine

Here's the story on how I got accepted an offer on a dream first investment property right after a wonderful vacation and how renting right down the street from it gave me a huge advantage.

I was interested in the property even before the trip because by walking around I noticed that the house had a huge backyard, something very rare in the urban touristy residential area where I rented. I asked the neighbor about the house because I hadn't seen the previous old lady owner that lived there since hurricane María. The neighbor told me she had gone to the states and that the house had gone to foreclosure to Banco Popular (biggest bank in the island). He also told me that it was very big, even had a pool and could be great for Airbnb in his opinion, although he didn't look like he had any experience with Airbnb. This surprised me a lot, the house from the outside didn't look special at all.

Quickly after getting back from my vacation, I saw a maintenance person cleaning the house. Immediately I went to the house and asked him who was selling it (I had called Banco Popular and they didn't have information about it). The guy told me it was actually a Fannie Mae property and told me which company was going to sell it for them. He gave me the office number, the realtors number, the broker's and even his phone number. I called the office and was told that the house was not yet available to sell. The lady on the phone also told me that they hadn't put a price on the property but she was going to add me to the waiting list and call me as soon as they did. I asked her what she thought they were going to price the property, around $150,00 or $200,00 maybe? She laughed and responded that it was going to be way below that because of location and needed repairs. This was a surprise, how can she say that if I'm in one of the most up and coming areas of the capital, maybe they hadn't got the memo? Or maybe she saw it was next to abandoned building with graffitis and judged it by it's appearance? I live in the same street and know that it's way safer than it appears if you judge it by only the graffitis. This was a plus for me. 

Two months passed and I called the office weekly. She remembered me and told me that the property was still without a price. I kept calling. One day I saw another maintenance person and acted like a didn't know anything about the property and they let me in quickly to see the house. It was old school yes but it was huge. 6 rooms and 3 full bathrooms, not like I was told 5 br 2 & 1/2 bathrooms. This is not counting the other full bathroom with private room I saw on the separate garage! The repairs also didn't look like much, paint, some doors and roof problem in 2 rooms that were next to each other. Office lady told me they calculated that it needed 40k on repairs but they were taking into consideration updating bathrooms and changing kitchen cabinets. Girlfriend and I don't mind the cabinets because they're in wonderful condition and a good paint job and some creative decoration can make old school bathroom mix with modern. The roof is cement and the leakage looked like it happened during hurricane so it's not like it's dripping all over the place. I got out of the house with a quick video touring the house and watched it on replay days to come waiting to be the first to bid on the house. I ran numbers imagining it could go up to $165,00 with repairs because of backyard, pool, number of rooms and location and they made sense!

Couple weeks after that, I was walking my dog around the neighborhood, taking pictures of what looked like abandoned properties, I passed the house and saw that, to my surprise, it had a for sale sign. I panicked. They had listed the property! I called and no answer. I called the office and the lady was like oh hey they just listed it, thought they called you by now. I told her that I hadn't received any phone calls, how could they have listed it and not called the waiting list? I was shaking by this point because I was so anxious and angry. I had called like 10 times during the last 2 months asking for the property and they didn't even bother. I got my emotions get the best of me I admit. Anyways, I asked her the price and she told me it was listed for $80,000. How could this be!? Location is walking distance from beach, house has 7 rooms and 4 full bathrooms in total, with a pool, big backyard, not in need of total makeover... I didn't understand this price, maybe a mistake? I told her I wanted to make an offer on that moment but she told me I had to see property first. I wasn't going to tell her I’ve already seen the property, just to be formal. I texted the phome numbers that didn't answer my calls earlier and got a message back from one saying that we could go see the property in two days.

I went to see it with my girlfriend and parents. They wanted to make sure it was not all hype by my part. They saw endless possibilities, even moving in and not renting units will save us the rent money we spend now while we build equity. I offered 7.5k over asking price. I wanted to go over 20k since the beginning but was convinced by others not to go so over the top. The same day I offered, I saw like 5 other couples and families going in to see property by appointment. This got me anxious and preoccupied. I had already been outbid in a repo before.The following Monday and Tuesday was the same. People passing and taking pictures. I saw all this because I rent just down the street. I had advantage of seeing demand first hand. Next day I decided to increase offer by 10k. Real estate agent told me that it was a wise move. Not 1 hour passed when Fannie Mae decided to accept my offer. What a crazy timing. Fannie Mae took 3 days to respond and accepted offer just 1 hour after increasing bid on the third day. Talking about luck. I celebrated, told girlfriend and family. Everyone responded super pumped, even more than me, parents acted like we won the lottery and offered to help us in any way they could.

Now I'm waiting on option contract to arrive. The property has been taken off the market. Broker told me house was separated for me but lawyers where finishing some tax information about property. I'm ready to sign and go forward with bank since I had previous relationship and done that before hand. It was hustle in my part, because I knew it was a deal since I saw it, thanks to experience by going to see other properties. Also I increased bid by 17k on third day, not giving Fannie Mae reason to offer highest bids to others. But aside from hustle, it was pure luck to have that property just down my street. It gave me huge advantage! I learned that if you want to invest in a specific area, learn about it first, or even live there if you can. Walk around daily and be the expert of the area so when a unicorn appears you will have your pokeballs (pre-approval, numbers) ready to seal the deal quick. If I didn't walk around and saw the for sale sign, and the office would have not called me and forgot about the waiting list, I would have missed this dream deal right next to where I live. I'm so freaking excited to continue this journey and share what I learn in the process. Doesn't matter if something crazy happens and this deal doesn't continue, I'm learning so much everyday and am convinced I will be successful if I just continue walking this road without looking back.