Newbie to Buy and Hold Investor in 5 months

[Canneton Howard]

I have been interested in getting into real estate for many years now as a way to produce passive income and help my retirement fund early on; however, I had never done much about it except read a few articles or books here and there until I ran into BP. What a jack pot of information! From all the books and resources available to the many members who willingly share their experience and offer advice. I took the plunge and became a Pro member to get the full benefits of the BP world. I also bought several of Brandon Turner's books, which are amazing by the way. 

While reading and studying at every opportunity between job and family life, I started formulating a plan of attack and running deals through the BP calculators. I found a great realtor through BP who works with investors and is an investor himself and we started looking for deals. I didn't quite feel ready, but I knew I had to keep things moving if I were to ever make this happen. We went back and forth on a few opportunities in the Colorado Springs area but the numbers didn't quite work for me nor did they feel right. Finally, a duplex came up and we put an offer on it before seeing it in person. I was a little hesitant with this approach because sure enough, when seeing it in person it needed some help. The good thing is that both units were occupied and the property has some potential. We made some counter offers and got the price reduce by a good amount to cover repairs. 

I closed on it about 3 weeks ago and have already started fixing it up to be able to raise the rent to market value. The tenants and neighbors have been very appreciative that I am making the neighborhood look better by fixing up this property and I am excited to see the finished product. 

I was surprised how fast things moved but I have a great team that helped me through it and look forward to making more deals soon!

[Canneton Howard]

Hi @Becky Reid

Some of my criteria included 《$300k purchase price, 1-4 unit property, min of 10% total equity return, $200 cash flow per unit after ALL expenses including mortgage, tax, Insurance, vacancy, repairs, capex, property management  (even if you are the PM), and other expenses you might have. Good luck!

You are welcome @Luong An. If you haven't done so already,  I would recommend Brandon Turner's books "The book on Rental property investing" and "The book on managing rental properties". Best of luck!

Thanks @Jared Bouzek. It's been a little bit of work but I think that's were the deals are now. You have to be willing to put some work into it.