The house next door

[William Tillman]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $136,000
Cash invested: $15,000

This is the house next door to mine that went up for foreclosure auction. It was a 3br/2ba with around 1300sft in a quite subdivision near town so I knew it would be a great buy. Living next door i knew the previous owner and was able to get a lot of background info on the property that not everyone would have access to.

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

I found this deal while looking for my first investment property in the local area on Zillow. It showed up for auction.

How did you finance this deal?

I was about to have a close friend of the family give me a short term loan to purchase this property.

How did you add value to the deal?

The property had a squatter living in it so that was the first hurdle. The property was filled with tons of furniture and trash that I removed. I replaced all of the countertops with granite, replaced the flooring and painted everything!

What was the outcome?

It took about a month to rehab the property and less than 3 weeks of it being up for rent, I found a great tenant that pays $1800 a month.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I don't have to do everything myself. I did everything alone except the countertops. I could have saved money and gotten a better result if I had hired a professional to complete things like paining and flooring.

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

none