All Forum Posts by: Annie Johnson

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $42,000
Cash invested: $55,000

This was our first intentional real estate investment. The home is located in a quaint part of town near the city center in Lakewood, New York, and was the ugliest and most run-down house on the block. After working with a few local contractors we have done a major overhaul of the property and hope to cash flow $1000/mo after the rehab loan is paid off a year from now.

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

Loved the location and the price gave us the financial flexibility to invest in rehabbing the properrty.

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

Through our agent. He helped us so much with his knowledge of the local market and helped us negotiate.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage.

How did you add value to the deal?

Sweat equity and quality contractors kept us on budget.

What was the outcome?

Higher-end rental in a great community. Easy to rent and cashflow nicely.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Quality rentals in quality areas bring quality renters.

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

Rick McMahon was our agent and did a great job. John Boisvert was our contractor and was great to work with.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Snohomish.

Purchase price: $330,000
Cash invested: $10,000
Sale price: $385,000

Bought this home as a live-in flip. We were the first to make an offer the day it hit the market. I wish we would have held on to it and rented it out. A year later it was worth about 100k more. But happy we got to live here and get more experience. We did very little to the home but it made a big difference. New paint, can lights, fixed the fence and staged it beautifully made all the difference. Snohomish is a cute town.

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

We were looking for a single-family home under 340,000 in the Downtown Snohomish area we could add value to.

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

We found it on redfin. Made an offer the first day listed. I think we had 15k in earnest money.

How did you finance this deal?

convetional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Paint, new can lights, remodeled bathroom, fireplace facelift, fixed up the yards and hired professional stager and photographer.

What was the outcome?

The market went up in our area. We made 30K in our sale. About the same amount as our downpayment. But we gained a lot of knowledge about live-in flips. Sad we didn't hang on to it as a rental.

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

Ginna Demme is an amazing agent in our area. Willow West stating is worth all the money. I want them to decorate my own house!

Sorry to jump in on this thread but I'm curious if anyone here has an Airbnb in Seward. Or can connect me with someone who does. Thanks :-)

I grew up in Edmonds and currently live here near downtown. It's a really nice town with great beaches, schools, resturants and a friendly community. The prices here just like everywhere are insane. We are within 25-30 minutes to downtown Seattle. We also lived in dt Snohomish and loved that place as well. 

I host a monthly meet-up in Edmonds. For Dec we are doing it through Zoom. Please RSVP if you plan to attend. Hope to see you!

submitted! what a great idea!

I host an Edmonds meet-up every first Friday of the month at Salish Sea Brewery but had to cancel for Dec due to rise in cases. I am planning on hosting it on Zoom instead for Dec 4th. Message me if you are interested! 

We did the whole buy used thing and ended up spending 1-2k a year for repairs. We went through 3 different vehicles in 10 years. We ended up buying a newer- 2018 Pacifica and my husband's 2015 Tundra both with cash. We plan on driving those cars to the ground before buying cash again. That 50-60k could have been used to purchase more rentals but having a reliable vehicle for us is so important. They are both not very fancy or flashy, and I definitely don't feel like a baller in my minivan, but I'm happy we did it. 

Have you read David Greens' book on long-distance REI? How did you analyze the deal? Seems like your ROI number is good to me.

I thought his post was really interesting! I am no expert but I do believe it could happen or not happen. I think it is good advice to keep buying deals as they come and have money set aside for the future.