Hello Bigger Pockets, I am very excited to finally write this. I (Dillon Duffy) have been working on a building for a few weeks now and listening to Bigger Pockets podcast and videos on YouTube and trying to self learn how to navigate through this exciting but stressful project.

I purchased my current home in May 2021 for 156k. We went from a 2 bedroom 1 bath home on a little under a half an acre to a 4 bed 3 bath home and an extra building the prior owners called the "pottery barn" that sits on 2.5 acres in town. The move was to be in a bigger house to supplement our growing family. The only downfall was the neighbors were not the best. Lot of foot traffic from shady characters and not the cleanest of properties. After a few years of struggle with a "easement driveway" between the home, we were able to purchase that property in Nov 2023 for 20k. That's when my journey of maybe I will start having a rental property. After getting the property turned over to me, we soon realized the home wasn't in the shape of being a good flip, so we decided to tear down and have a open lot for the time.

With that we go back to the aforementioned "pottery barn" this building sat directly behind their home. With my dreams of controlling a rental property next to me dashed due to poor home structure I started thinking this building used to be a home so why not flip it back to that and make some money off it! And that leads me to where I am at now, currently gutting and setting up a plan to renovate the building. The goal is to have that done in the next 2-3 months and then start on rebuilding but not just a home on the now vacant lot, but a duplex. My wife and I have been also mulling the idea of when we build the duplex of living in one and renting out the other while we sell our home we are currently in as well and build our dream home. If all goes well we know we got a great deal on this home with an extra building and will turn it into a great portfolio starter for the long term!

I would absolutely love any tips and teachings on how I should finance my first rental along with when we get to the duplex. I will add we took out a loan to buy the home for 20k along with extra cash to put into our home to make a "home office" out of the attached garage we never used except for storage so we added even more value to our 156k purchase. Again I am very excited to be here and ready to change my future and my families forever!

Overland Park, Kansas

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