Hello BP! I created my account some time ago and have been in analysis paralysis for the better part of a year now. Well, I have finally crossed that invisible barrier and decided to take action by finding and purchasing my first rental property.

My area of focus is single family rentals as buy and hold investments in Marysville, OH 43040. The deal has to be 20% below current market value and must have some way for me to add value through renovations or improvements to the property. Ideally the property should have 3 BR 2 BA and be between 1,200 and 2,000 SQ. FT. in size.

I recently offered on a property and was in contract up until last week. The inspection revealed way more deferred maintenance than I originally anticipated so I chose to walk away from the deal.  Below is the property analysis before I realized the property needed over $20,000 in work!  The only reason I accepted the seller’s counter offer after my first low ball offer is because I deviated from my criteria.  I justified the purchase price because I could take out management expenses, manage it myself and get decent cash flow.  Moving forward I will always factor in management expenses even if I plan on self managing (thank you BP podcasts).

One thing I failed to see at the time is because of the size and style of the home, it would be really difficult to sell to anyone but another investor. The purpose of my criteria is to keep my exit options open to both investors and homeowners in case I need to liquidate the property quickly.

This property had existing tenants who wanted to stay and were currently month-to-month. I see this as a potential positive or negative. We would not have to screen tenants and would have immediate cash flow, but by not having the opportunity to screen the tenants, it is hard to tell what kind of tenant issues we would have with in the future.

Needless to say, the $400 I spent on the inspection was well worth the price to get out of a potentially bad deal. I now have a clearer vision of what I want and I am going to focus on finding a deal within my set criteria. I have been researching my local market and what I have found is property prices seem elevated and good properties are typically in contract within a day or two after hitting the MLS. Deals through the MLS are difficult to find and I am not seeing many foreclosures or distressed properties to take advantage of. Maybe I am not looking in the right places? I am going to try some direct mail marketing targeting absentee homeowners. I am creating my list by manually searching properties on our county auditor's website. It is a slow and tedious process, but last night it only took me one hour to find 30 addresses with absentee owners.

I am sure there are faster more efficient ways to find these lists, but for now this process is getting the job done.

I look forward to becoming more involved in BP community as I begin and develop my investing career! Thank you for listening!