First time a charm???

Hello to my new "family"!

Just wanted to say high and give a big thank you to Dean G. for publishing such a great resource in BARM.

I have made my first purchase of an investment specific real estate property. The closing date is less than a week away and now I will venture into the world of being a landlord.

My goal when I started this adventure was to build my team, identify my target areas to look for investment properties, and to complete the purchase of a single family residence. I set a target of 6 months and with the encouragement of Dean's words in his book, I have accomplished this goal in just under 5 months.

Although I came across many, many possible investment properties (with soooooo many foreclosures at this time), I patiently searched for, selected, and viewed several dozen places before making an offer. The offer was refused but I felt that there must be a better opportunity around the corner so after a couple more weeks, I found a much nicer place that even though the asking price from the bank was considerably higher than that of the first property, I felt confident that I could work a deal that the bank would accept while increasing the likely net gain to me in the end.

Well, patience has it's virtue - the bank accepted my offer of $200K for the house, which went back to the bank for $232K several months ago, and had a tax valuation of almost $300K a year ago. A couple homes in the same subdivision have recently sold for $265K. The previous property that I offered on would have $10-to-$15K less equity so this should be a far more lucrative investment.

Since the home is so new (built in 2004) and is in very good condition, I expect to spend less than $500 in repairs (some window blinds, some touch up paint, a used refrigerator) to have it on the rental market immediately after Christmas.

My plan is to hold on to this home as a rental for 12-18 months then sell for a pretty good profit (hoping of course that the economy is steadily improving by then).