My first house was a beat up, old duplex that I instantly regretted buying. At the time, I was absolutely in over my head, but things would eventually turn around. The nightmare duplex would become a great investment. Here’s my story.
My first real estate mentor was actually my real estate agent. He was a master carpenter, landlord, and been a family friend since before I was born. He also acted as my unofficial home inspector. I don’t know how common home inspections were back then, but we didn’t get one. Our friend “knew houses”, so I just trusted him.
We Found A Duplex
After looking at single family houses for a while, I noticed a duplex sitting on the market for a couple weeks and decided to go take a look. It needed work and the tenants were upset the property was for sale. This is often the case when landlords up and decide to sell a property, leaving the tenants scrambling to find a place to live.
When you buy a rental property, you really need to know what’s going on with the tenants. Do they plan to stay? How will your plans affect them? It turned out one side of the duplex had problem tenants who had stopped paying and become hostile. This was the reason for the sale, but I wouldn’t find that out until after the fact. More on that point later.
We wrote an offer about 10% below asking price, assuming the sellers would counter a little higher. They didn’t. Our offer was accepted as-is. My loan required me to live in one side of the duplex, and the sellers agreed to have one of the units vacant by closing.
This is Really Happening
I couldn’t believe they accepted my offer. It was a leap of faith to purchase a first home that doubled as an investment property. At the time, I was pretty risk-averse, so this whole thing was a total rush.
The day of inspections, my real estate agent and future father-in-law both attended inspections. Now that I’m an agent myself, I see tons of potential issues with not using an actual home inspector. Inspectors should be unbiased, not the buyer’s agent and a family friend, regardless of how knowledgeable they may be. But my agent was a master carpenter and landlord. My future father-in-law was a master plumber and HVAC certified remodeler. They both gave the property a quick once-over and that was good enough for me.
There were a few hiccups with the loan, which I now realize is because I used a mega-bank rather than a local mortgage broker. Mega-banks have massive turnover and very little accountability (or customer service). They often pass your loan file between multiple people all over the country with little concern for keeping promises or hitting deadlines. The person who I was dealing with went on vacation before finishing my loan (I had no idea). Her boss eventually escalated the issue and I closed 3 days late.
It’s Official
We finally closed, and I got the keys. Receiving the keys to your first home is one of the best feelings in the world. I went straight from the closing office to go check out my new place. When I got there, it became obvious nobody moved out. People were still living in the unit I was supposed to move into.
Come to find out they hadn’t been paying rent and had become non-responsive to their prior landlord (the sellers). Instead of telling me about the issue, the prior landlord simply kept their security deposit and hoped I wouldn’t find out. He should have disclosed this information, but instead decided not to hold up his end of the bargain. I would have figured it out before closing if I had verified the tenants had moved, or questioned why their security deposit wasn’t listed on the closing documents. Live and learn. Regardless, the deal was final and this was my problem now.
Tough Guy and His Pit Bull
I knocked on the door to introduce myself and see what the plan was, thinking this must have been a simple misunderstanding. At this point, I hadn’t realized the prior landlord had pulled a fast one. A guy answered the door holding back his pit bull back by its collar. I love dogs, but this dog didn’t love me. I introduced myself and got no verbal response, just a stare-down and some angry snarls from the pit bull.
This guy wasn’t even on the lease and I had no idea who he was. What have I gotten myself into? I left my phone number and drove to the library with a bowling ball sitting in the pit of my stomach. I needed to research how to be a landlord!
Kansas Landlord & Tenant Law is Simple
Kansas adopted the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act in 1975, based directly on the 1972 Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA), a model law once seen as the national standard for balancing landlord and tenant rights fairly.
While many states have since modified their versions, adding stronger tenant protections, rent controls, or more complex remedies, Kansas has kept the original framework mostly intact to this day.
That means clear, straightforward rules:
- Strong habitability requirements + security deposit rules + anti-retaliation protections for tenants
- But also relatively landlord-friendly eviction timelines, no rent control, limited repair-and-deduct, clear tenant obligations, etc.
The entire law is still concise and written in plain English, which made it easy for me (a newbie) to quickly learn what I needed: If the tenants wouldn’t communicate, I could post a simple 3-day notice for nonpayment before starting eviction.
Owning rental properties is a people business. You need to make sure you’re being fair with everyone, but also know when you’re being taken advantage of.
I printed the required 3-day notice and taped it on the door. I added a note stating how I didn’t want trouble, and they could just leave peacefully without owing back rent or fees if they simply communicated with me. They played nice, and I had the keys a few days later.
We’re Back on Track: Time to Get to Work
I went to change the locks as soon as they moved out. I stepped inside and my foot almost went through a hole in the floor . Looking down, I could see into the basement…hadn’t noticed that before.
The place was trashed. All the wooden doors, windows and trim were covered in dog scratches. Someone puked on the carpet and threw a towel over it. There were about 15 bags worth of trash, soiled clothes, bed frames, broken furniture, you name it. A refrigerator in the garage was unplugged with a few packs of hamburger left in the freezer.
Moving In
One thing left behind was green 40-gallon trash can. My wife and I started using the trashcan for the remodel, and it actually stayed in our kitchen for years past the remodel. Unconventional, but we didn’t have much furniture anyway. The trashcan was a staple. We spent most evenings and weekends fixing up on the place and got good at landing beer bottles in that trash can from virtually anywhere on the main level. We actually still use the same green trash can at most remodels to this day.
There was obviously a learning curve to fixing up the house, but eventually we got enough done so we could move in. Work would continue, but we were in!
My choice of living room furnishings consisted of hand-me-down chairs and an old CRT TV. It looked like a waiting room.
Despite the comically bad start, we were officially a homeowners and landlords.
Fixing Up The Other Unit
Eventually, the tenants in the other unit decided to move. They had been in the property since before we bought it so there was still a ton of work to be done on their unit.
They consisted of 3 adult, chain smokers, so you can imagine the smell. The prior landlords hadn’t done much work, so we had our work cut out for us. While we were very excited to get to work, this meant starting over from the beginning again.
Once the remodel was finished, we posted it for rent. We were able to ask for much higher rent and quickly found a new tenant and neighbor!
Great Investment? Better Than The Stock Market
This duplex ended up being a great investment. Our sweat equity definitely amplified the return on investment. And while this isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone (it’s a lot of work), it worked out great for us.
We were young and didn’t have a lot of money to hire out the work. If you have the funds, you can certainly fast-track this process.
If you’re a first-time home buyer interested in owning rental properties, feel free to contact me below with any questions you have!
Justin Rollheiser – REALTOR®
Keller Williams Realty | Diamond Partners, Inc.
13671 S Mur-Len Rd | Olathe, KS 66062
Mobile 913-800-7653
Office 913-322-5878
Comments or Questions?