1st Property was a 5 unit in 2021

[Daniel DaSilva]

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $345,000
Cash invested: $70,000

Originally purchased for $345k in 2021 and renovated 3/5 units since owning in 2021. Refinanced at appraised value of $695k in 2025.

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

Partnered up with my partners who were interested in Real-estate and this property was introduced to us shortly after by an agent we knew. Our initial goal was to buy and hold.

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

It was introduced to us by an agent we knew. Original asking price was around $380k, if I'm remembering correctly. We negotiated it down to $355k. When inspection was done, we used several items on there to negotiate it down another $10k to $345k.

How did you finance this deal?

We had to use a commercial loan since it was a 5-unit. Using a local bank, we were able to secure a loan at 3.85% requiring 25% down. Commercial loans have a maturity date, this one having 5 years, with 25 year amortization.

How did you add value to the deal?

We bought it fully rented, rents were below market. As tenants began leaving, we renovated the apartments and were able to renovate then rent each at market value. 3 of the 5 units have been renovated, with the remaining to having very long-term tenants. Their rents have slowly increased and are nearly at market rent for their quality.

What was the outcome?

After purchasing we were cash strapped for a couple of years. We used a private loan to help with renovations in 2024. This then allowed us to feel comfortable with refinancing the property to cash-out some equity to purchase our next properties.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The size of the property was too large for us as we were inexperienced. Going into a commercial deal expended all our cash leaving us immobilized for a few years. There was a property manager that was used by the previous owner that was not great. After learning from their processes we decided to manage it ourselves from NJ. This allows us to hold onto 8-10% of our revenue. Tenants became a challenge but all left without evictions being needed.