Success Story: How first-time landlords found great tenants
One of the things I enjoy here at Point B Investments is watching clients, like the Storys, succeed in building wealth through strategic real estate investing.
Ross and Mary Story were interested in real estate investing as a way to create some additional income, but were nervous about being landlords. Now they own a beautifully furnished condo in Abbotsford which they have rented to their dream tenants.
The couple decided to start with a small condo as their first investment. I ran through some numbers with them to show that if they furnished the condo, it would have good positive cash flow and a healthy ROI.
Attracting the Ideal Tenants
Because they were hesitant to make the leap into being landlords, it was important for them to have good tenants. In order to accomplish this, they had to match the place to the people they envisioned living there.
Working within their furniture budget which we had worked out, they spent a few weekends to make their home look like a magazine photo shoot. Mary has an eye for photography and was able to take several beautifully staged shots of the suite.
They then wrote a killer ad for the place. Borrowing from existing written material about the building, Mary highlighted what they had done and described their ideal tenant as “a professional or a down-sizing couple.” The suite was fully furnished, right down to cutlery & face towels so that tenants could “move in immediately with just your suitcase and toiletries.” Within minutes of posting the ad they were contacted by a downsizing professional couple that ultimately became their tenant.
The Story’s received many more inquiries as well, which goes to show that there is certainly a big demand for this type of suite. But the price they set and furnishings they added eliminated many of the queries they didn’t want. For example, the sofa does not convert into a bed, so people who needed extra sleeping room didn’t bother contacting them. By furnishing the unit with the ideal renters in mind they were able to attract exactly the type of tenant they wanted.
They also found that it was a lot of fun putting together the perfect suite as a couple!
“We never doubted that furnishing made sense,” they told me, “and when that lease gets signed, you know the hard work was all worth it.”
I asked them if they had other words of advice for first-time investors:
“It’s scary to commit to that first property. But it makes a huge difference to have a realtor who understands your mindset and can guide you through the journey. Find someone you trust, then trust them. Teresa helped us gain confidence by guiding us to something small and new. The price was less daunting and we had the security of a warranty on all the appliances & fixtures.”
“It has been such a wonderful experience working with Teresa. We were initially hesitant and anxious to enter the world of real estate investment but with Teresa’s help, we were able to purchase our first property with confidence. I don’t think we could have done as well in our first venture without all of Teresa’s knowledge, patience, and experience to guide us. The property she found for us was perfect for newbie investors such as ourselves. We so thoroughly enjoyed our first experience furnishing and tenanting our first rental suite, in fact, that we are anxious to find our next property and will no doubt greatly benefit once again from Teresa’s expertise and guidance.”
Thank you, Ross and Mary!