Advice on 1st MF House Hack in high priced market

[Patrick Senas]

Hello BP community,

My wife and I just got married this year and are looking to find our first multi-family rental in San Diego. The plan is to house hack it and use my VA loan to fund the deal. Our big goal is to get a primary residence loan every year to build a portfolio locally. We got pre-approved and I am going through the MLS listing to find our 1st deal.

From the BP podcast, videos and books I get the basics on analyzing a generic deal. But Im still lost on how to determine if the property is a good deal. What CoC should I be targeting? What year should I target to be in the black as far as cash flow? Are these even the right metrics that I should be focused on in an appreciation market?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Or if a video exists where someone does go through the breakdown of their house hack in a high priced area that would be even better! 

Thanks and I look forward to discussing this more with you pros.

[Patrick Senas]

Originally posted by @Mark Frattini:

I'm definitely looking for base hits. Mostly looking for properties that could use some love. I'm trying to avoid turnkey properties because I want to be able to add value.

Me and my wife have been saving up, so we lived at her mom's house for barely anything. So any place we move into will increase our cost of living. But it's all about perspective. Ill just compare cost as if I was renting a similar unit.