Trying to Find Target Market for House Hack - Very Flexible on Location -Number/Goals

[Justin Haughton]

Hi BP Community,

I currently live in Riverside, CA. Both I and my fiance work remotely. Within the next 3 months trying to do a house hack (2-4 units preferably 4 or a single-family ADU - depends on numbers). Areas I've looked at are Corona, Riverside, Redlands, and the general inland empire (Riverside/San Bernardino County).

My situation is very flexible - family and church friends are in a 50-mile radius of the locations listed, so started my search there - but starting anew with new friends and locations is fine.

My question(s) - 2 part:

1) If you could live in any city in California (specifically Southern California) - where would you buy a 2-4 plex?

2) Going bigger: if you could live anywhere in the US, and you were young, wanting to be in a moderately high population/job growth area, with a budget of around 800k, where would you buy a 2-4 plex to house hack?

Numbers:

Budget around 800k

Goals:

-Significantly reduced mortgage or net-free/positive living.

-Safe.

-Monthly Payment won't be overwhelming on one income and no tenants -  <2.5- 3k would be great - but realistically - $3500 would be a cap.

-Good place to start a family.

-If we leave would be a strong renter market and be able to cash flow.

-Don't want to be in the same place as tenants - would prefer a wall of separation - or detonated. 

-Open to creative financing and lease option ideas.

-Late April dealine

Numbers:

Downpayment: ~ 30-50k (depends on the strength and dynamics of the deal) - using first-time homebuyer program.

Budget: ~800k

Credit: Mid/low quartile 700's

Appreciate insights on strong potential markets (from my networking I found these as potential: Magnolia/Queen Anne Neighborhoods (Seattle), San Diego, Austin, Las Vegas, Phenix, Boise. Feel free to give me a call if you have interesting ideas to share - just DM me!

[Matthew Kwan]

HI Justin, Seattle has definitely an amount of demands of ADU units. You can also buy a single family with/without ADU + and additional DADU on the back yard, which allows you maximize the usage of land and house in terms of rent. For now, only King county WA allows residence/builder to build a DADU unit on the back yard. @Carlos Valencia @Albert Bui