Beginning in investing

I'm starting off with my first post writing about my first home purchase, which ended up being my 1st investment property.

September of 2009 I started to look for a new home in Las Vegas, NV.  This was my first home purchase.  The market to me, an unexperienced buyer, seemed like it couldn't drop any lower.  At the time, any offers that were being made were for over the asking price.  You couldn't get an offer to go through without offering over the asking price, and if the appraisal came back below your offer, you were expected to have cash to make up the difference.

Since I was doing an FHA loan, I was limited in my options, and felt pressured to buy.  I ended up buying a condo/townhouse for $115,000.  Later in 2011, this property would drop in value to closer to $90,000.  However, I had the property appraised last year in an attempted refi, and the value was at $130,000.

I still have an FHA loan on this property, and am still paying annoying PMI.

In November of 2013, I purchased my current residence.  It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath for $246,500.  On February 1st, after some mild fixes and cleaning of my condo, I rented it out for $900/month.  This was my first land lording experience.  Currently, the tenant is still in there and has not been late on rent.  I basically break even on this property, but soon the PMI will be disappearing.  At that point, the property will cash flow roughly $125/month. ($125/month is after setting aside money for future vacancies and repairs.)

Out of this whole experience, I've learned that I never want to invest in a condo again.  Although it is much easier to manager, the HOAs I have no control over and they continue to increase.

My next post will be about my 2nd property that I purchased in IL, and how that SFR ended up being a complete rehab!