First Renovation - Hillsdale

[Laura Kelso]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Grand Rapids.

Purchase price: $142,000
Cash invested: $46,000

This home had been lived in by the same family for many years. The mother and father were in transitioning into assisted living. The home was renovated from top to bottom including gutting both the kitchen and main floor bath down to the studs. All wood floors were refinished. New electrical service, new water heater and repair and reinforcement of a few foundation cracks. All new fixtures, paint and flooring everywhere to make this home like new.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The opportunity to add a lot of value to a home in a nice neighborhood and good school district.

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

The owners were family friends the deal was a win-win for all involved.

How did you finance this deal?

By using a home equity line of credit on our current home.

How did you add value to the deal?

By doing much of the grunt work and painting myself.

What was the outcome?

This home will be turned into our first rental property and is now cash-flowing.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

That everything takes twice as long as you think it is going to. I should have had the home inspected prior to purchase to have a better idea of the true scope of work.

[Kyle Keller]

Sounds like a great learning experience! Way to go! By inspected prior to purchase, do you mean prior to making an offer or closing?

[Sean Sloop]

Congrats Lauren! I am sure with all that renovation you created a nice amount of equity!
Good call out on the lessons learned. Those are things you have to learn the hard way sometimes. I have gone through a couple renovations where the rehab has taken way longer than expected especially if DIY. 

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Congratulations on this investment @Laura Kelso !