21 Years Old & Ready to House Hack

[Jack Elliot]

Hello, all,

I just recently joined BP after enjoying the podcast for some time now and I feel I'm in a great position to find / acquire my first rental property for house hacking, and would love and appreciate any input regarding my unique situation.

I'm 21 years old, living in a small town in Southwest Missouri, making $28k/yr as a hospital driver. My family and I moved here from Pasadena, California 2 years back due to a family member passing and I received an inheritance check of $165,000 (post tax) from the sale of the Pasadena property which I grew up in. I had $40k personally saved up too, so I currently possess $200k in capital.

My dilemma is that the town we've moved to here in Missouri is growing fast and housing prices are increasing fairly quickly, although.. I don't care one bit for Missouri compared to the quality of life that Pasadena / LA had to offer (not to mention the weather!) I'm essentially going nuts where I am now and would prefer to find a way to resume the life I enjoyed in California.

My question to you folks out there is: Should I house hack through a duplex in Missouri, where I don't enjoy living, but is steadily thriving? Or.. are there any creative ways that I could apply the capital that I have so that I could live in or around Pasadena? (which happens to be one of the more expensive cities in Los Angeles County)

Perhaps I should invest someplace completely different for house hacking.. essentially taking the route of delayed gratification with the goal in mind to someday be able to comfortably move back to L.A. in the coming years.

I'm young, and so I naturally want to "live it up" and be close to my friends and family, engage in outside sports where the weather calls for it, take day trips to the beach once again etc.. But it's difficult to ignore the investment opportunities elsewhere.

I'm open to ideas, criticism, thoughts, anything at all to point me in the right direction as I face some uncertainty in this moment of my life. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this and I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous new year!

-Jack

[Nicole Masters]

Hey Jack! First of all, I am so sorry for your loss of a family member. Second of all, congrats on the savings! That's a really impressive amount of money to have saved at such a young age. Third of all, what a good question.

I grew up in Oregon and hated the weather with a passion. I always wanted to live in California, so when I got the opportunity at 22 years old to move for work down here I jumped at the chance. I LOVE living in California and am so glad I didn't spend a second longer than I did being miserable in a state that I didn't feel was a good fit for me any more.

We ended up buying a single family househack 4 years after moving to California where we still live as I type this. Living in the home has helped us save on our monthly mortgage payemtns and we've been able to buy Airbnbs because of it! 

I turn 30 years old this year and as I'm starting to reflect on my 20's I am soooo grateful that I made the decision to say "f**k it" and take a huge risk in moving to an expensive city not knowing what the future held.

You're still so young and there's this constant battle I feel like people that are young AND responsible like yourself go through. Which is; deciding if you 1) sacrifice now, to build yourself a better future, or if you 2) take advantage of your youth (considering you will never be this age EVER AGAIN) and do what makes you truly happy.

I think there's a balance you can strike between those two things, and it starts with you living where you want to - because weather makes such a huge difference on our happiness, joy, productivity, and overall quality of life. BUT if you move back to California, consider buying something, even if it's a 2 bedroom condo, and rent out whatever extra space you have to a roommate. This will kickstart your home onwership AND landlording career at the same time!

I know this is super lengthy response, but your question really struck a cord in me (in a good way) and I wish you the absolute best in whatever path you choose! :)