Condo & first buy-return of 55K!

[Brady McPheeters]

Investment Info:

Condo buy & hold investment in Honolulu.

Purchase price: $525,000
Cash invested: $105,000
Sale price: $580,000

We bought this with a conventional loan & 20% down. As first time homeowners, we were modest (for living in Hawaii), and wanted to start gaining equity as we lived in the investment for 2 (ish) years with intent to sell, make some money, & turn around and purchase something a bit bigger; do it over again. With me being an agent, we were able to save on 2.5% of the real estate closing costs which was huge!

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

Condos in hawaii in the right location have steadily held their value, if not consistently gained in value. We knew hanging on to this property, in an up and coming neighborhood of Kaka'ako, would benefit us and allow us to sell and get into something bigger in the future.

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

We had an agent at the time. We paid full offer price.

How did you finance this deal?

80% conventional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

We ripped up carpet, added nice vinyl flooring throughout, added baseboards, added a nice tile backsplash, fully repainted, changed lighting & fixtures, and scraped the popcorn ceiling.

What was the outcome?

Sold for 55K over what we purchased for it 2.5 years prior.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I think if we had the ability to hang onto this condo, especially in this location, and gain even more equity, we would have been able to make more long term. We were'nt able to hold onto this property & rent it, as well as buy another, just yet. The rent on our building was also a lot lower than the mortgage, even after looking into refinancing. IF would could have stayed living here longer term, that would be the only thing I would have changed, but I do think we sold at a peak.

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

Myself and MYSELF!