My husband and I began investing in real estate after a loss of a 24 year career in Corporate America. We bought our first property in February, 2005 through a realtor. This was all we knew at the time. This realtor helped us find a rent-ready townhome in a good area. Our area newspaper ad yielded greater than 30 calls on the property for rent. We tenanted the property to a single mother, who had destroyed her credit; we took a chance on this tenant. She paid cash every month for the first two months. The third month, she experienced financial issues; her car was repossessed, so she asked if she could make up the rent for that month later, after she recovered her car so that she could go to work. She not only paid the overdue rent, but she now directly deposits her rent payments into our checking account.
We purchased our second property in July 2005.purchased a distressed 3br, 2ba, 1car ga, ranch with finished basement for $150,000. We rehabbed the property for $20,000, putting in an all new kitchen, 3/4 bath in the basement, new bath on the main floor, new carpeting, ceramic tile and paint throughout. We did a lease option on the house in December, 2005 and collected a payment of $3,900 for the option, with a 5% adjusted FMV purchase price over three years, and the property will sell for $231,000. This is a $50,000+ profit over three years, plus the property cash flows $550/monthly. This property houses displaced victims of FL hurricanes, re-establishing their lives in Chicago.
We were introduced to a real estate college in December, 2006, and after attending this college, we began to network with other investors, purchased a block of 10 single/multi-family properties in partnership with a senior citizen who wanted cash flow only with no responsibility. We closed on these properties in January, 2006. We repeated this process in February, 2006 and did it a third time in July, 2006. In December, 2006, we became hard money lenders to a developer in AZ, with a promise to purchase two town homes that will be built in 2008 at 2006 prices. In the meantime, we will get 18% return on our hard money loan until our town homes are rent-ready. Our total investment portfolio currently sits at 37 and will continue to expand.. We have plans to purchase additional properties in FL in the next month.
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