All Forum Posts by: Eric Maxwell

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $140,000
Cash invested: $22,000
Sale price: $180,000

Moratorium expired a few months before closing and I inherited 2 tenants couldn’t get into the property for 3 months!

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

It was the same price as the 1st property I bought except twice the size and two of everything.

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

I hunted for 9 months

How did you finance this deal?

Same broker team i used for the 1st one.

How did you add value to the deal?

I updated the electrical, painted everything, and “cleaned the property up nicely” exterior and interior.

What was the outcome?

It was kind of a bad spot in my life at the time. I didn’t really enjoy any part of being a landlord. I was extremely humbled by people and their excuses when it comes to paying rent on time. I’ve never actually been legally owed money before so I was green on how to handle things while trying to be understanding and respecting other lifestyles and career choices.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Inherited tenant really left me feeling like I should’ve bought it wmpty. I wasn’t prepared to lose so much of my savings as carrying cost basically I paid for the tenants to live there for 3 months + my own living expenses in that time.

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

My mortgage brokers but I’m not ready to reveal them just yet.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $140,000
Cash invested: $24,000
Sale price: $220,000

I knew from the start that I was going to buy this property.

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

The neighbor was the hottest in the twin cities and this house has 83 businesses cards of realtors who showed the property. It was in the market for 283 days before I bought it.

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

I found it but reverse engine my own search. I figure the properties on the market the longest are the hardest to sell for some reason.. overpriced, ugly, other issues..

How did you finance this deal?

FHA loan through my mortgage broker associates.

How did you add value to the deal?

I upgraded the “bones” of the property and the cosmetics. Carpet throughout (as Minnesota gets frigid in the winter)

What was the outcome?

83k profit

Lessons learned? Challenges?

For this to be my first deal I was applauded at the closing for “not making any mistakes”. Honestly I researched real estate topics for 7 years before this purchase. The year of the purchase I saved money like a madman and saved roughly 22k. My sacrifice… no haircuts and no fast food. 1 job full time, 1 full time side hustle. 0 debt at the time other than student loans.

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

I did but each company I worked with has been bought or sold since then.

My answer is yes. For one reason only. We Currently live well below our means so 400 shouldn’t be a stretch.

We both work in “in demand” careers. I am a machinist and she is a certified pharmacy tech (corporate) .

Most importantly, We each have a side hustle (home based LLC for our consulting business and our photobooth business) those are the only things we spend money on that continue to make us money.

I’m 30 my wife is 25. Our total expenses all things considered is roughly 3800 per month. We have 3 children. 

We are not well off, nor wealthy. We’re pretty average. We just view money differently I suppose.

Our motto when buying anything:

Is it worth it? Will it last? Will it make us money? 

Also if one of us says no to a purchase of 350+ the answer is no.

A bit about me. 

I come from extremely humble beginnings. I’m being humble when I say Extremely.

I graduated high school 2 years before  the recession. I saw the good economy right before the downturn and the subsequent Bank crisis in the midst of that. 

 Knowing nothing about personal finance. I don’t care to use credit or maintain a credit score. It cost money to do that. No car or property is so important that I need to go broke for it. 

The average American is in debt and has poor credit. It keeps the average American going to work. 

When the average American should be thinking of ways to make their money work for them. 

No matter what situation you find yourself in there is a way out. 

It starts with one word. Sacrifice. 

One phrase. Live like no one else will for a period of time.