What was Your First Deal?

My first investment property was a duplex that I lived in one part and rented out the other part. It worked out quite well because I got owner occupied financing, no money down from a grant program (neighborhood gold), and the rent from the other half of the duplex paid over half my mortgage payment. I have since moved but now I rent out both units of the duplex and am able to cash flow on the property.

Thanks for the stories, I definitely expect to make mistakes on my first investment.
rhughes...i have a question for you though...how did the lease option contract help you with that deal?

Anyone else want to share info about their first deals?

I went to the Bahamas for the first time in my life for new years 2004 and while I was there I discovered a 36 acre island near a major upscale resort in Eleuthra. I was in Nassau, when I returned I realized this property was rare because it had a king’s grant which made it fee simple. Most of the land in the Bahamas is owned by thousands of islanders. I researched the owner and located him in Ohio. I then obtained a 30 day option to purchase with 100.00 down and 5,000 due at the end of 30 days. I locked the property up knowing I did not have the 5,000 down much less the 860,000.00 for the island but I knew it was a good deal and I had 30 days to find a buyer.
I found a buyer and they bought it and I made 87,000 with nothing but a 100.00 out of pocket. I learned so much from this deal and have completed several deals since then.

my first deal is a single family rowhouse that my business partner and i purchased for $49,000 through a conventional lender.At the time of purchase the taxes had just been increased about 300$ a year from 900 to 1200 annually,which i didnt forsee but doesnt effect the bottom line immensely.The property is fully rented with section 8 tenants who seem to be very nice,clean people,and the rent is 800 per month.the good thing about these rowhouses is that they are fairly similar to condos.it has three bedrooms and one bath upstairs living,dining room and kitchen on first floor,an enclosed porch and a full basement with washer dryer hookups.whati like most about them is also how they differ most from condo's in that there are no common charges or home owner assocciation fees,which translates into more cash flow.my property ins is 732 annually and the interest rate on the mortgage is 5.375 which places my mortgage payment at $460 p.i.t.i.included.ive been sitting on the sidelines for about 8 years and it feels great to have that first one under the belt.i wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.

was in my 20s, through a realtor. It was a house listed for $16K. I paid full price (Pretty high, huh? lol). Needed 10% down ($1600), 90% bank financed. Had that little bit of cash. Rented it out for $350mo for a few years and then sold it, making just a couple thousand profit through the sale, but PLENTY from the rent. It had foundation issues we didn't want to address. Taxes were about $400year.
The same year we bought that one we bought 2 FSBOs, one for $8K and one for $11,200. Charged $350mo for each of those as well.
We later sold the $11,200 for $26,000 (1/2 FMV) to the renters, and we still own the $8K one. Get $450mo rent now.

several in between, and.......

Fast forward. Our FIRST purchase in the recent string is this:
http://www.deangraziosi.com/node/2390

(Sorry for cheating and putting in more than one.)

How I've found/bought deals: Realtor, free shopper, newspaper, internet, family, friends, drive by, sheriff's sale.

Rina

P.S. AroundtheBeach, THAT is a most awesome island story! Makes me want to go back to Paradise Island.

P.S.S. spugenthamakin, Congratulations on getting out there and making it happen!!!

My Wife and I bought Dean program 7/10/08 and only were able to strat viewing it when we returned from Habitat for humanity 8 days later. Apon returning I noticed my 2 week trial period was almost over ,I had to panic ! We also have not good credit and I ve been hurt from a job I used to make 125k yearly running car dealerships.Frankly seeing Dean and seeing his packet has super charged me. We lost are old house and had to get a home by way of rent to own . After reading the stuff we got I approached the owner of the house we were in and offered him a higher interest rate fixed for 30 years he had thought the property needed much improved things but heres the dirty on this first deal. we have a 3 bedroom /2 bath split-level. Its got about 1800 sq feet sets on about 3/4 of an acre the appraied valve is around 205000K. The comps in our area are around 195 to 198500 We got the deal for 127500 and used no money down and the owner became our bank finanicing 100 % of the price.Our only brick wall now to get over is how to get the equity we have in the house out of the house without selling it. If you have any ideas please email me. But how did we do?

Great job!!!
Sorry to keep adding little comments in here, but that was awesome. And FAST!!

Rina
P.S. Hey, it's great to have all of you here, btw! (8/3/08 newbies. )

Thanks for the congrats Rina but its vets like yourself,the administrators,this site and of course Dean who give us newbs the extra confidence to make it happen.thanks to all who share.

well I was asked 2 post my first deal here .3 years ago i bough my first home painted the in side n claened the gar. real nice n did little to the out side n the yard sold it after liveing it for about 2 years .anyway i bought it for 165500 sold it for 230000. witch i thought was good deal n it gave me the idea to try n start doing flips,witch ive whated to do for many years now.so i findly got the ball rolling a while back got lists of homes and went n looked them 40 to 60 of them witch took days of driveing but now i have some to move on but to be honest the market makes me wonder,how to proceed.

My first deal was a duplex too. I also lived in one half and rented out the other. I bought and sold it through realtors, with no money down using an 80/20 loan for $145,000 in 2004, I didn't do any upgrading at all and in 2005 I sold it for $215,000 and walked away with $48,500 after I paid the pre-payment penalties and realtor fees. Then with some of that money I took about $7,400 of it and re-invested it. I found another property myself with no realtor this time. I used my own contract, structured my own deal, did some minor upgrades, lived in it for six months and assigned it for $17,800. The beauty of that deal was that all the rents and repairs I paid for went toward the purchase price. Although it wasn't my intention, I lived there for free and walked away with a total of $25,000 on that one. I thank God I knew about the assignment exit strategy! Yes, real estate inbesting has been berry berry good to me... LOL!