All Forum Posts by: Clayton Silva

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Fayetteville.

Purchase price: $110,000
Cash invested: $22,000

3 bed 2 bath home with about 1,000 sq ft of livable space and a one car garage. It was sold to me by another investor in the area who is offloading his properties to fund retirement and no longer wants to manage the properties. It had minimal repairs needed because he basically remodeled it and I spent a total of about $5,000 for repairs, and to buy a new water heater, garage door and lift because it was a manual lift and I wanted a functioning garage for my tenants. The tenants are a married couple with a few kids. He is a soldier in the Army and I look forward to having them there for the next 36 months hopefully (that is usually how long soldiers stay in one place before moving to another installation).

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

I lived in Fayetteville, know the area, and how BAH works.

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

I found this deal off market through the listing agent who is my agent in the area.

How did you finance this deal?

The old fashioned way 20% down conventional. Nothing exciting.

How did you add value to the deal?

I didn't haggle the seller, uploaded everything for my lender quickly so the loan closed in less than 3 weeks. I try to make the process seamless by answering my phone/emails and being upfront with what I'm looking for.

What was the outcome?

A great cash flowing property in a safe, quiet neighborhood that didn't break the bank.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I think I put in an offer before really running the numbers because I know the area, what they will generally rent for and what my criteria are. OH!! DON'T TAKE RENT ESTIMATES AT FACE VALUE!! Property managers look for quick listings with no vacancy and will often undersell the house! I purchased the house with a $950-$1,000/month rent in mind. The property manager said $850, I said no, $1,000 and had a tenant in less than 24 hours because I knew my numbers. (Honestly should be $1,100)

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

Agent: Uta Belletete is amazing to work with!
Mortgage Broker: Brian Cannady is great to work with and does great work!
Property Management: Soni Rider RE/MAX Choice Rentals is doing great so far!

@Anthony Ybarra when is the next one? I would like to attend but am not in town this weekend.

@Antionette Carradine thanks just finishing up my pre-approval and should be able to make an offer in a few days

@Antionette Carradine my first one was a SFH and I didn't have a lot of money to repair so I bought one with virtually no repairs necessary and then once I moved out and put a tenant in, it barely cashflowed. (was a 0 down VA loan) so I refinanced at a lower rate and now it makes about $170/month. I'm working on a bigger deal now and I'll update you on whether it needs lots of repairs.

I'm an investor in the Fayetteville area but I no longer live there. I'm actively working on a deal right now and utilize a property manager in Fayetteville. There are incredible cash following deals if you don't care much for appreciation.  

@Ray Lin that's interesting, I've wanted to get into foreclosures in my target market as there are quite a few of them. Do you have more information regarding buying foreclosures?

I think most people generally recommend house hacking (have someone live in spare bedrooms that you know and trust that will pay you to do so). You could also look into ADU's (accessory dwelling units) depending on the property. Best of luck!

@Sean Wilkinson easy answer is both but depends on what you're hoping to accomplish.

@Supada L. I was having a similar property and there are two ways of looking at it.

1) standard net income or cash flow. At face value your deal seems bad and the ways to fix are: raise rents, hire new property management/do it yourself, refinance and lower interest rate, or sell the property and be done. I chose to refinance mine personally (went from 4% to 2.25% which nets me an extra $120/month)

2) you could look at it as a savings account. Perhaps you have to put away a couple hundred in repairs every now and again, but what you get is a savings account that someone else is contributing to (principle in mortgage or equity). You also get the tax write off for interest expense and any potential appreciation. I know this isn't most people's way of looking at it, but it depends on what you are investing for and what you can afford to pay/lose per month. Best of luck.