Second rental property purchased

[Marci Zhang]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Hoffman Estates.

Purchase price: $240,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Rental - 3 bd Ranch on slab. We paid cash, using cash plus a HELOC on our house.

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

Originally we wanted the address so our son could go to a certain High School. That became complicated, so we just rented it out. We have been very happy with how our first rental has been.

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

I am a realtor and I was specifically looking in a certain school district. Listed at $250K, low taxes, I offered $220K, They countered saying that after looking at their net sheet they could only do $243K. I came back with we can only do $240K and they agreed. After I sent the email, I was kicking mysef, because I really wanted to offer $237K but I did end up getting $3K back at closing for various issues after the home inspection.

How did you finance this deal?

cash and HELOC

What was the outcome?

House was already updated. Only needed to paint and get a new water heater and fix the garage door so that you didn't need to have the light on for it to work. Renter moved in Nov 15th. Paying $1800/mo

Lessons learned? Challenges?

So far things are going smoothly. Grateful to have found a couple of local handymen to save cost on electrician/appliance repair. Also my husband did some of the repairs required by the village inspector. I did the interior painting myself.

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

I am a realtor. My Real Estate Attorney is pretty great too: Sebastian Kos. He is very nice, but very aggressive as an attorney which is great, because I am not very aggressive. I also LOVE my home inspector: Humza Khan. He checks out everything and explains things in a way I can understand and does not come across as superior. His reports are detailed with great pictures.