All Forum Posts by: Ben Kowallis

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Kearns.

Purchase price: $395,000
Cash invested: $17,000

This house was in pretty rough shape when I bought it. The fence was leaning all over the place, there was garbage filled 4 ft deep in the air vents, and normal maintenance on almost anything was never done.

The neighbors next door were disliked by the whole neighborhood for causing problems. During renovations, they threw a brick through my window and came into the house. I was able to get them evicted after they shot a gun off in the front yard.

Now it runs smooth and I love owning it!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Kearns.

Purchase price: $395,000
Cash invested: $17,000

This house was in pretty rough shape when I bought it. The fence was leaning all over the place, there was garbage filled 4 ft deep in the air vents, and normal maintenance on almost anything was never done. This house and the one right next to it are the worse ones on the street, and the rest of the houses looked really good. I used YouTube to figure out how to enlarge and build a new shower downstairs. I replaced the flooring, painted all the walls, new water heater, and a few other things.

It was incredibly challenging during the renovations because I was doing all the work myself and things were moving slowly. After a couple hard months of working, I came home to find the neighbor kids had thrown a brick through the window were standing in the kitchen when I came in. These neighbors had been a problem and had a wall of trash piled up the entire height of the fence. Thanks to BiggerPockets, I was able to locate the actual owner of the home these neighbors were living in. One night, the neighbors got drunk and shot a gun off on the front yard. I was able to show the property owner the video of SWAT at the house and he finally kicked them out.
I didn't think I would make it through this house and wanted to give up, but couldn't.

Since then, renovations were completed, I've had amazing tenants who take care of the house, pay rent on time, and get along with everyone in the neighborhood. This house is now the easiest one to own and runs as passively as you can get. I'm so glad to have stuck it out!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $395,000
Cash invested: $17,000

This house was in pretty rough shape when I bought it. The fence was leaning all over the place, there was garbage filled 4 ft deep in the air vents, and normal maintenance on almost anything was never done.

The neighbors one one side were disliked by the whole neighborhood. During renovations, they through a brick through my window and broke in. They shot a gun off in the front yard and I was able to get them evicted.

Now it runs smoothly and I love owning it!

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

It was a good neighborhood with only 2 houses that looked to be in rough shape.

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

This was the height of the market when everything was getting bid up and under contract within a couple days. It was sitting on the market for about 2 weeks and I offered $5k less than appraisal value.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Replaced all the flooring, remodeled the bathroom, fixed the fence, and got the bad neighbors to leave.

What was the outcome?

It now runs great with no issues and great tenants

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Neighbors are important to look at when buying a home. I don't want to be doing extensive work on my own houses anymore. I'd rather spend the money on someone who knows what they're doing and can get it done fast.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $395,000
Cash invested: $17,000

This house was in pretty rough shape when I bought it. The fence was leaning all over the place, there was garbage filled 4 ft deep in the air vents, and normal maintenance on almost anything was never done. This house and the one right next to it are the worse ones on the street, and the rest of the houses looked really good. I used YouTube to figure out how to enlarge and build a new shower downstairs. I replaced the flooring, painted all the walls, new water heater, and a few other things.

It was incredibly challenging during the renovations because I was doing all the work myself and things were moving slowly. After a couple hard months of working, I came home to find the neighbor kids had thrown a brick through the window were standing in the kitchen when I came in. These neighbors had been a problem and had a wall of trash piled up the entire height of the fence. Thanks to BiggerPockets, I was able to locate the actual owner of the home these neighbors were living in. One night, the neighbors got drunk and shot a gun off on the front yard. I was able to show the property owner the video of SWAT at the house and he finally kicked them out.
I didn't think I would make it through this house and wanted to give up, but couldn't.

Since then, renovations were completed, I've had amazing tenants who take care of the house, pay rent on time, and get along with everyone in the neighborhood. This house is now the easiest one to own and runs as passively as you can get. I'm so glad to have stuck it out!

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

It was a good neighborhood with only 2 houses that looked to be in rough shape.

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

This was the height of the market when everything was getting bid up and under contract within a couple days. It was sitting on the market for about 2 weeks and I offered $5k less than appraisal value.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Replaced all the flooring, remodeled the bathroom, fixed the fence, and got the bad neighbors to leave.

What was the outcome?

It now runs great with no issues and great tenants

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Neighbors are important to look at when buying a home. I don't want to be doing extensive work on my own houses anymore. I'd rather spend the money on someone who knows what they're doing and can get it done fast.

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $244,000
Cash invested: $11,000

This was a single family house that I converted into a duplex. I actually built the kitchen downstairs while renting out the top unit (I had no kitchen for 2 months). Spent $7,300 at closing and about $4,000 in conversion costs and repairs. Gross monthly rents are $3,100

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $326,000
Cash invested: $19,900
Sale price: $460,000

Basement was already set up as another unit, so I bought furniture and converted it to an Airbnb while living upstairs. The Airbnb paid for almost all the expenses of owning the home and my "rent" was just putting $200-300 away each month in savings for maintenance and capex.

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

Great house hack in a great area!

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

Offered $20k over asking within a week of it coming online. My offer was picked above 3 others.

How did you add value to the deal?

Added solar panels and a hot tub. The hot tub was just for the luxury of having it, but we justified the purchase by increases the AirBnb nightly rent.

What was the outcome?

The provided a really nice place to live for significantly cheaper than renting a run down rental in a bad area. This was perfect to save a lot of money while maintaining a high standard of living.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned that AirBNB needs a lot more time and attention than a long term rental.

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

Mike Hancock has been my realtor on all my deals! He has his own rental portfolio and works harder than most people I've met.

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $244,000
Cash invested: $11,000

This was a single family house that I converted into a duplex. I actually built the kitchen downstairs while renting out the top unit (I had no kitchen for 2 months). Spent $7,300 at closing and about $4,000 in conversion costs and repairs. Gross monthly rents are $3,100

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

There was already an old sink and a gas line in one of the rooms downstairs, and another room we could put in laundry hookups. All I needed to do was install a door to separate the upstairs from the basement.

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

Sellers had their previous offer fall through and they dropped the price. I actually purchased the property $2,000 more than asking price so they would cover as much of closing as possible.

How did you finance this deal?

Since I haven't been working at my commission based job for at least 2 years, I don't qualify. I gave my girlfriend the money for the down payment and the conventional (3.5% down) loan is set up in her name. We were a little short on money at closing, so my girlfriend pulled out $2,000 from her 401k so we had a little bit of money after the purchase.

How did you add value to the deal?

Built a kitchen downstairs. Currently working on landscaping.

What was the outcome?

I work in SLC, so after the kitchen was built I moved back since the commute was too long. Currently renting out both units with lots of cash flow.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The basement flooded the first week we moved in. There was a massive ball of tampons that was clogging the main sewer line. Thankfully, it was just barely within the boundaries of the house so our home warranty covered the costs. I'll pay extra for sewer inspection next time...