Overview:
When I got married just before my 23rd birthday (I know I was young). My wife and I were looking for a place to rent ( 1 bed rooms were around $500-600 and 2 bedrooms were around $700-750). We were both working hourly jobs not make a lot of money. At the time the government was offering a first time home buyer credit and we had a little bit of money saved up. My Dad who has been investing real estate for awhile suggested why don’t you buy a duplex. We looked around and found one instantly that was in an area we wanted to be. The numbers worked out to where we only had to pay around $300-400 (if the other side was rented) to live in a 2 bedroom and we acquired a nice asset to start our portfolio. The key was selling my wife (fiancee at the time) on the property. I brought her to look at the property she did one quick walk through ( not sure if she even made it to the bedrooms) turned around got in her moms car and started to cry. I was able to sell her on the vision and remodel ideas and I convinced her to buy it with me. To this day she is so glad we did (she tells me we will never sell this duplex) It is more sentimental than anything. It actually saved our bacon through some of those early years of marriage, school, etc. This property got us both hooked on real estate.
Property Details and Numbers when I bought it (2009):
Duplex (each unit 2 bed/ 1 bath)
Purchase Price – 180k
Loan FHA- 3.5% down
Rehab- 10k rehab
Gross rents- $1,400-1,500
Current Details and Numbers (2019):
Value – 360-370k
Gross rents- $1775
Side note – I did a cash out refinance on this property to help acquire another property.
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