My first investment property

[Arthur Wong]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Cleveland.

Single family home in Cleveland rented out via Section 8.

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

I had colleagues who had invested in Cleveland and said that it was a good investment so I followed suit.

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

I found it on a website selling turnkey properties and honestly I didn't do any negotiating. The listed price was so good (but really in retrospect, I should have negotiated), I just paid it.

How did you finance this deal?

I paid cash from savings.

How did you add value to the deal?

My property manager had to do some repairs in order for it to re-qualify for Section 8. The house was in pretty bad shape after the original tenant left.

What was the outcome?

There is a long-term tenant living in the house now and I'm being paid 100% from Section 8 though I found out in January this year that my tenant somehow hadn't been paying utilities for 24 months and somehow still hadn't had their utilities cut off. Of course, I'm still responsible for the utilities as the owner.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The neighbourhood I purchased in is pretty rough. As my property manager says, no matter how good the property is, any tenant will want to eventually leave and go to a better area.