Learning our lessons

[Erik Sivertsen]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Hendersonville.

Purchase price: $234,000

Our third primary home, bought after moving to North Carolina.

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

It wasn't an investment, but we knew it may be in the future.

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

MLS search and a realtor. The purchase price was good, as the sellers had tried to sell the previous year, but the buyer financing fell through. We purchased it for the same price they had paid 3 years earlier. They just wanted to make sure they sold it so that the house they were building would go through (contingent on the sale of the current house).

How did you finance this deal?

VA loan, zero money down.

How did you add value to the deal?

For us, the VA loan added value, and the home came with equity.

What was the outcome?

We still own the home. We moved back to Utah and rented it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I go back occasionally and inspect the home. A good lesson is to rent where you know people, or have friends or family. We have friend who live across the street who informed us that, despite our very specific contract of no cats and only the two existing dogs, that the tenants were up to 3 dogs and 3 cats! I did a surprise inspection and gave an ultimatum. The cat urine smell gave it away, despite them trying to hide the felines.

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

Just the realtor who dealt with VA loans for purchase.