Hey NOW! My name is Tom and I'm from London Ontario Canada. I work as a Carpenter apprentice at the moment and will be fully licensed within a year, 5200 hours under my belt when done. I'm very handy and have all/access to the tools required to renovate homes. I bought my first home in June 2014 and planned on renovating it my self within 2-3 months (evening and weekend work) with an $8000 budget. After demoing many problems arose that needed to be fixed, structural, electrical, plumbing, hvac. I initially wanted to do cosmetic work but all the problems required Permits, which added more time/scheduling to the project. Permits required drawings, which required a designer which required an engineer, wasn't sure how to support a load bearing beam on a brick wall foundation which all required more money! Hah! 10 months later and roughly $20,000 invested got me a nice looking rental unit. I've had the property rented out for 1 year now and that alone has been a roller coaster ride! 5 months in they wanted to move out because they didn't have enough spending money at the end of the month, at the end of 2 months notice they asked if their mother/boyfriend/brother could move in to help offset the costs. Sure, new lease, they now pay for utilities which is good because the hydro was more then I was expecting. Several months later drama arises between the first 2 and the new 3 and the first 2 move out suddenly leaving an unpaid hydro bill which doesn’t get paid and hydro is cut April first. First week of April we had very cold weather, below freezing and the house isn't heated and 3 people are living there... rent isn’t paid so I issue an eviction notice for the amount owed. We work out a deal and they came up with the money owed and a 3rd lease is now signed for the 3. Great! Rents paid, no vacancy issue and now these 3 are taking better care of the property. It's been quite the ride but honestly I love it and the rent checks coming in with a positive cash flow of 500-600 a month is GREAT! With what I learned on my first deal I KNOW my 2nd one will go much smoother and now that I’ve discovered Bigger Pockets I know where to come for advice! That's my real estate investment story! Here are some links to the renovation projects!

Sorry, I took ALOT of pictures!

http://imgur.com/gallery/IFs3P/new

Video walk through before renovation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoupbG2msjw

Video walk through after renovation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLboU15mLWg