How I got over fear of buying my first duplex.
Posted by John Reed on
I need to give readers a bit of detail on my entry into buying real estate when I was 22. I intended to buy a duplex in the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia when I was stationed at Fort Monmouth, NJ. My mom lived there.
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After looking for months, I had not made a purchase. I chewed myself out. “So you’re the big real estate investor. After three months, all you did was find something wrong with every single property you looked at, some reason not to buy every property.” So I decided to go back and buy not the perfect property but rather the one with the least wrong with it.
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That was 16 Harvard Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. What was ”wrong” with it was it was the first house on the street and adjacent to the main street stores. So I bought it for $14,000.
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Did I have excuses not to buy it? Sure. Interest rates had just gone up to 7.25%. Nobody know de trouble I seen. Also, because I was going to rent both units and not live in it, I could only get a 20-years, not a 30-year mortgage. That means higher monthly payments. Nobody know but me.
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Did I have a job there? Nobody know my sorrow. My job was 1 hour and 27 minutes away from the duplex.
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And in July I had to transfer to Fort Bragg then to Vietnam, far from my investment. Nobody know but Jesus.
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The mortgage lender said the place needed a paint job and required me to do that. I did it on my 30-day leave by myself. I fell off a 40-foot ladder while doing it, landing on my back on a stair rail. I was not hurt. 22 years old. Nobody know de trouble I seen.
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These are some of my excuses for NOT buying 16 Harvard Avenue. But, no excuse. I bought it in spite of all the excuses I could have used. I sold it for $36,000 in 1975 I think. It is now worth $578,400 and has been changed back to single family.
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And remember I said the thing that was "wrong" with that house that initially made me reject it was it was next to stores one side. Guess who bought it from me? A savings and loan whose northeast corner touched my southwest corner. They needed it to stop being the only bank in town without a drive-through window. They paid all cash full asking price.
.
That is when I stopped being a process- oriented rookie real estate owning wannabe and got it done like an entrepreneur.
.
I do not respect people who have excuses for not doing things that others are doing.
.
After looking for months, I had not made a purchase. I chewed myself out. “So you’re the big real estate investor. After three months, all you did was find something wrong with every single property you looked at, some reason not to buy every property.” So I decided to go back and buy not the perfect property but rather the one with the least wrong with it.
.
That was 16 Harvard Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. What was ”wrong” with it was it was the first house on the street and adjacent to the main street stores. So I bought it for $14,000.
.
Did I have excuses not to buy it? Sure. Interest rates had just gone up to 7.25%. Nobody know de trouble I seen. Also, because I was going to rent both units and not live in it, I could only get a 20-years, not a 30-year mortgage. That means higher monthly payments. Nobody know but me.
.
Did I have a job there? Nobody know my sorrow. My job was 1 hour and 27 minutes away from the duplex.
.
And in July I had to transfer to Fort Bragg then to Vietnam, far from my investment. Nobody know but Jesus.
.
The mortgage lender said the place needed a paint job and required me to do that. I did it on my 30-day leave by myself. I fell off a 40-foot ladder while doing it, landing on my back on a stair rail. I was not hurt. 22 years old. Nobody know de trouble I seen.
.
These are some of my excuses for NOT buying 16 Harvard Avenue. But, no excuse. I bought it in spite of all the excuses I could have used. I sold it for $36,000 in 1975 I think. It is now worth $578,400 and has been changed back to single family.
.
And remember I said the thing that was "wrong" with that house that initially made me reject it was it was next to stores one side. Guess who bought it from me? A savings and loan whose northeast corner touched my southwest corner. They needed it to stop being the only bank in town without a drive-through window. They paid all cash full asking price.
.
That is when I stopped being a process- oriented rookie real estate owning wannabe and got it done like an entrepreneur.
.
I do not respect people who have excuses for not doing things that others are doing.
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