Should I house hack a condo?

[John Serna]

Hello,

My name is John and I live in the Seattle area. I just moved here and found out that it can be pricey to live here. I want to buy real estate but don't have high income due to the fact that I just graduated from college. Is buying a condo a good strategy to start investing and do a house hack? Any comments and suggestions.

[Michael Haas]

@John Serna welcome to the city! If your budget locks you into a condo I'd say its better to buy a condo than nothing at all, but there are some definite downsides to condo investments - the HOA & parking restrictions that others have mentioned, plus the fact that they're typically too small to make very good househacks. The ROI #'s on HouseHacks tend to get significantly better if you can add a second kitchen / ADU, or if you get to 4+ bedrooms. Neither of these is an option in your typical condo (as the vast majority of condos in our market are 2 bed, 1-2 bath units).

Have you looked into the Washington State Housing Finance Commission downpayment assistance programs? WSHFC is a non-profit dedicated to helping every Washingtonian own their own home, and this program allows us to take out a loan with 3% down, then get 4% down payment assistance so the cash required to close is super-minimal (as little as $6,000 in some cases, depends on the purchase price of the property though). A lot of people have no idea that programs like this even exist, and just assume they need 20% down, or a $100k, to buy a house. Totally not true! 

BP doesn't like it when you share links, but if you google "WSHFC Downpayment Assistance" it should get you to the right spot. You need to attend a homebuyer’s class taught by a WSHFC trained Realitor and Lender, I’m trained and am teaching a few of these early 2022. Let me know if you’re interested and want me to send you details once the location and time of those Homebuyer classes is set, and if you have any questions about how this works.

Hit me up anytime if you'd like to talk a little more, or would like some lender introductions to start dialing in what you qualify for. Cheers!