Breaking into investing!

[Pat Lulewicz]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Dekalb.

Purchase price: $72,500
Cash invested: $14,500

First rental property purchased. Rental property for NIU students.

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

Wonderful cash flow and a way to break into real estate investing without too large of a capital/equity investment.

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

MLS - We made an offer, and went back and forth until we agreed on the purchase price listed.

How did you finance this deal?

Condo complex was 100% NOO so I called around to a number of small, local Banks, and chose the one that was able to service it at the lowest rate.

How did you add value to the deal?

Immediately brought in tenants for the subsequent school year. Served as property management to maximize cash flows. Between tenants, did a lot of repairs, replacement of fridge, and maintenance that appeared to be ignored from prior owner.

What was the outcome?

Great cash flowing investment property. Current tenants are sticking around for next school year and we couldn't be happier.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Being the first deal, just had to get over the initial fear of jumping in. Learned EVERYTHING along the way as this was before I started listening to podcasts and researching everything. Like getting tattoos, this got me hooked.

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

Property inspector - primarily western chicago suburbs - Bob Ashbrook - very thorough guy and extremely flexible.