My first investment went south.

My first investment went south.

Investor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2019 · 139 posts · 54 votes

Investment Info:

Condo other investment.

Purchase price: $241,000
Cash invested: $50,000

first time investment, too much focused on location, didn't think about ROI enough. I'm going to sell the property in 2021

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

LIght rail station coming in 2024

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

found on Redfin, my realtor and I wanted to win on several other bids, we bid $20,000 more than listing price in a hope for appraisal coming lower so we can re-negotiate. However, appraisal came exactly what we offered so we lost a way to back out, and ended up paying more money in the beginning. I didn't anticipate this happening and I had to put my car in a collateral loan to cover the downpayment, and touched 401k a bit. that took long time to pay back and recover.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage

What was the outcome?

In the beginning, I wasn't able to find tenants to cover the all cost. Ended up finding college students and rented out two beds room and create a living room with curtain divider.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Because of light rail station coming in few years, I pulled the trigger but as W-2 fulltime salary, I'm not able to recover and save capital to be able to invest and build portfolio. I need to sell this property and invest to other Investor friendly state. Seattle is no longer investment state.

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

Yes, I worked with realtor that I've known personally at church but I learned that decision will be made by me and realtor can only make suggestions. When they suggest, better listen. I didn't lose any capital but wasted time and delayed working towards to building experience.

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  • Michael HaasBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Redmond, 🌧️ Seattle Investor-Agent | 🤑 Helped 400+ Clients Invest in Real Estate | 🏘️ Owns 23 WA Rentals & Airbnbs | 🏗️ Built 5 DADU's | 📈 You Can Do It Too · Member since 2016 · 724 posts · 3k+ votes
    5y

    Never fun making the wrong investment call @Jay Yoo - but every difficulty is a lesson learned at the end of the day. Although this one didn't turn out as you liked the experience and lessons will only make you stronger as an investor. Keep on keeping on :). 

    HouseHack Seattle | Michael Haas & Team572 Reviews
  • Lee RipmaPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Prairie Village, KS · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    5y

    @Jay Yoo

    Awesome! You might not have made money but you learned so much and that’s invaluable. Totally agree that you have to be the one to make decisions. It’s always a red flag to me if clients want me to tell them something is a deal or if they should buy it. I’m just here to facilitate them buying the property they want and I want clients to have their own numbers and strategy.

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