Condo in Van Nuys Buy and Hold

[Amit Chawla]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $180,000
Cash invested: $36,000
Sale price: $280,000

3 Bed 2 Bath Condo

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

Purchased as primary residence. Housing market was hitting bottom and starting to rebound.

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

MLS with a real estate agent

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing

How did you add value to the deal?

Minor value add, main thing was just holding for a long period

What was the outcome?

Ended up selling at a discount due to tenants trashing the interior. Was rushed for time so did not think through possibilities of trying to do a cash-out refi in order to use money for a new down payment.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Again, take the time needed. Had I spent maybe 15k on the unit, I could have sold for closer to 350k. But again timing and other challenges made it easier to just sell at that point. HOA was a huge pain in the butt. They constantly fined me for things that were not justified. Also, HOA charges and budget seemed extremely high.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Worked with a realtor who I would never use again and have not used.