All Forum Posts by: Rochelle Thea Fabrizio

@Martin Vehlow Thank you! I was actually looking at Wauconda homes for sale recently. I am moving to Great Lakes this summer and am trying to find an investment home in the area as well. The market seems pretty saturated currently and it's been difficult finding the right one! If you have any suggestions please feel free to shoot them my way. I am not working with anybody yet as I normally do all of the hard work myself, but would love to hear from somebody who works and lives in the approximate area. 

@Joshua Hyde, I would agree with @William Allen. Don't forget to loose sight of what you are actively doing and the task at home. I would house hack in a heart beat. Get a 2-4 unit property and live in it. Start fixing it up and get the experience. 

@William Allen I am stationed at China Lake currently and will be moving on to Great Lakes in a few months. I'm ironically a Nurse Corps officer but if I'm being frank I prefer houses to patients haha. I would like to get my real estate license after I move to Illinois so that I can get better acquainted with the system and potentially use that to my advantage if I buy in Illinois more than just the one house per PCS which has been my usual. I would love to one day own my own property management company along with numerous properties rented. I haven't fully decided if I will continue with the USN until retirement so I am just taking it one tour at a time. Did you use property managers when you were stationed away from your homes or did you manage yourself? How long have have you been out and what are your thoughts on it?

Well luckily I was making enough to cover both of my homes mortgages. I flew into Pensacola and spent about 18 hours a day for an entire week cleaning up the property and getting it back in order and filing police reports (happened to be a felony because of the stolen fire extinguisher). I also saved a lot of money flying in and doing the job myself. As soon as I was finished I posted the property for rent and it was occupied again in 10 days by some active duty pilots which was great. I would HIGHLY recommend doing your due diligence on the occupants and understanding that it is okay to wait a few days to find the right tenant. I was very eager to accept somebody to not loose any $$. Realizing that putting the right tenant in the property even if you are loosing a few days in rent is far more cost effective in the long run. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment in Pensacola.

Purchase price: $109,900
Cash invested: $30,000

I purchased this home to flip it and live in it while on Active Duty stationed in Pensacola, FL. I flipped the home without contractors while living in the property for two years. I utilized a VA 0% down loan with a 4.5% rate. I manage the property myself and rent it for $1,850 with my monthly mortgage, taxes, and insurance costing $915. This home has never sat vacant, and even though rent is much higher than most comps, I am able to rent easily because of large workshop and 0.5 acre lot.

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

The home was in terrible shape moving into it. There was terrible wood paneling and each room looked as if it had jumped out from the 70's with blue bathtubs and yellow toilets. It had sat on the market for a while but I saw a significant potential in the space and extras that were already present.

How did you finance this deal?

VA Loan with 0% down

How did you add value to the deal?

Updating every room. I added drywall and turned an upstairs room (previously used as a sewing room) into a master suite by adding a walk-in closet.

What was the outcome?

I have had a very positive experience with this home. I have a Cash on Cash ROI of 26.92% and am very successful renting this home very quickly and well above market rent.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I didn't screen my first renters well before accepting them. They ended up being terrible and I lost many months of rent because of it. They also sub-leased without approval and those individuals never ended up paying me either. Before leaving they unfortunately stole my refrigerator, concrete patio set, fire extinguishers, extra materials for home, and any closet component they could get their hands on. I fortunately have learned from that mistake and have done very well since.