My First Duplex Deal

I made an offer on a duplex that was trashed by one of the tenants, and the owners lived 40 miles away. Apparently, they were overwhelmed by the “problems” caused by the tenants.The asking price was $79,000.

Five minutes after my wife, myself, and our agent did the initial walk through, I advised my agent that the tenants had to be gone before I would close the sale. He passed it on to the owners.

They began a series of letters to the tenants, telling them they had to leave. The tenants kept delaying, and the owners became very frustrated. One day, after being notified of the owners’ problems, I made the offer to the owner that if they would drop the price by 10%, I would take the duplex and deal with the tenants myself.

Well, they agreed! We made $7,900 just like that!

We closed on time, and I started eviction proceedings right away. After paying the $350, the tenants were escorted out of the front door by the nice officers, and my locksmith changed the locks.

My wife and I threw the tenants’ belongings into the garage first thing and began the disgusting task of cleaning and repairing the unit. The tenant in back left the place pretty clean with little problem.

The previous owners had rented the units at $450 each (when they were lucky enough to get paid, that is). After our cosmetic work of about two weeks, we easily rented of the units out for $575 each.

I am grateful to God and CRE Online for the information on your website. We LOVE investing in real estate!

By CREOnline Contributor

A content contributor to the original CREOnline.com.