My 3rd Rental Property (and 3rd Townhouse) in 2016

[Jonathan Taylor Smith]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Durham.

Purchase price: $117,000
Cash invested: $4,943

This was #3 - coming almost exactly 1 year after the first, and my 3rd Townhouse (I really like Townhouses)! It has 3-Levels / 3 BR / 3.5BA / and a 1-Car Garage. At the time, I thought that I might be paying too much, as I actually tried to get her to come down off this price. But as it turned out, I got a bargain - as this Townhouse now has about $55K of equity present.

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

I was well familiar with this community, as my mother-in-law purchased a foreclosed unit here several years earlier.

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

This was my first non-foreclosure purchase, as I bought this one off the MLS directly from the lady who was living there - acting as my own Buyer's Agent.

How did you finance this deal?

This was my third loan with Quicken Loans, but I believe I had to put down 25% on this one to qualify. This was also the last loan done in my personal name.

How did you add value to the deal?

Not much was needed in the way of rehab, but there were several vacant lots here that had never been built upon, because the builder here went under in 2008. Someone finally bought those lots and started building additional units that sold for $185K to over $200K. This quickly pushed the value up of the existing units that were just 10 years older.

What was the outcome?

My first tenants here were great, but they only remained for 1 year. But the next tenants have also been great and seem as if they will be here for awhile longer. I now own 2 additional units here, for a total of 3 at this location.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This was the easiest one up to this point. Everything about it was pretty easy. There were no real challenges, as by this time I had my team in place and systems refined.

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

Being a Licensed Real Estate Broker myself as of my 2nd property, I acted as my own Buyer's Agent in this transaction.