Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $150,000
Cash invested: $150,000

My husband bought this house when we had just started dating. After a few years of marriage, we refinanced it to a 15-year mortgage and moved to another house (upgrade). We kept it, rented it out (rent covered mortgage), aggressively paid down the loan every month and paid it off 6 years later. It's been great cash flow since.

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

We already owned the house and had been living in it. It made lots of sense to keep it as a rental when we moved to a different (better) house.

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

My husband bought it just before we started dating.

How did you finance this deal?

He put 20% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

Just basic upgrades and imporvements over the years.

What was the outcome?

Still own it, never plan to sell it as it's great cash flow, easy to rent and relatively low maintenance.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Charge a monthly fee for dogs as opposed to an initial extra deposit.

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

Not really but we plan to as we hope to buy more rental houses.