All Forum Posts by: Brian Croll

It's been a crazy year so far. My wife and I purchased our first intentional rental property (we had rented out a previous personal residence that we've since sold), we are trying to keep up with our 3 year old and expecting our second kid next week. We will be a little bit 'out of the game' since my wife will be taking 6 months off for maternity leave. I figured sharing our story may be motivation for some folks as well as keeping me thinking about it until we are ready to buy house # 2.

The House: REO purchased, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath ranch

Major Renovations: We gutted and reconfigured the kitchen to be usable. The bathroom got a new toilet, vanity and flooring. All the hardwood floors were refinished. All wood paneling was replaced with drywall or painted concrete and a fourth bedroom was added in the basement.

Numbers:

Purchase Price - $51,000 financed with 25% down

Rehab Costs - $16,000  ($4,000 over projected budget) Unexpected electrical work made up a big chunk of the overage, we found open wires behind wood paneling and in the attic.

Monthly Expenses - $427 (principle, interest, taxes & insurance)

Monthly Rental Income - $940 

Since we purchased the home two homes in the neighborhood have sold for $90k and $93k. They were the same floor plan but with only 3 bedrooms. I am hoping to be able to leverage equity in the home to aid with the purchase/renovation of our second home early 2016.

I thought I would give a quick update on the property. I had to fix a couple minor plumbing issues in order to have the house re-inspected for the mortgage. This and waiting for my contractor to finish up another job meant the house sat idle for about 3 weeks.

Last weekend my contractor was able to start on the house with his guys. They demo'd the bath and kitchen, framed in one of the kitchen doorways (that was useless), extended the wall for usable cabinet space and started demo on the basement.

Kitchen before

Current Status: cabinets will now be able to wrap and follow the new wall

Basement Before: 

Current Status (Forgot to get the pad lock off the garage door for them to get this stuff to the dumpster, whoops)

We'll see how things go this weekend. I'm trying to stay ahead of the game and make sure I have things ready for the guys to keep working uninterrupted, I've managed some big constructions at work but this is the first time doing something like this for myself. All I know is I'm glad I talked myself out of doing the work all myself :) 

-Brian

I did not get any leads from BP. I am using a friend of a friend who does this work on the side, mostly weekend work. So far so good, but it is a little slower process than I was initially planning.

@Nicholas Elliott   & @Justin Howe : 

I can share the numbers I have so far. I purchased the property for $51,000. I financed the property for 20 years and put 25% down. I'm anticipating the rehab to cost about $12,000. There are a 3 bedroom properties in the area renting for $$850-$950/month so I'm expecting something in the $950-$1050 range for rent. My PITI (princinple, interest, taxes & insurance) are right about $430 a month so I should hopefully have some good cash flow.

@Michael Westberry : I bought in the White Oak / Colerain area. 

Hello Biggerpockets community,

 I closed on my first investment property just last week!  I had been searching for a property for close to a year before finally getting this one. It will be a buy and hold property; it is a 3 bedroom ranch that I will be adding a 4th bedroom to in the basement. The work should begin on the house soon and I'm hoping to have it ready for a tenant in 3 months.

 My long term plan is to add a single family home every year, of course until I'm able to afford to add more than one a year :). Hopefully I will have a success story to share in a few months. I have previously rented out a condo that we lived in (accidental landlords), but this will be my first purpose bought investment property. 

-Brian

I have recently gotten an accepted offer for my first investment property. I had a general contractor in mind to handle the rehab, but he is currently to busy to take on any additional work. Do folks have a reasonably priced and reliable contractor they use in the area?

Thanks in advance!

Brian