First “House Hack” Investment

[Matt Brooks]

Thanks in advance for any advice, suggestions and info!

I’m from Buffalo, NY and have been looking into buying a double as a primary residence and my first investment. I bought my current house in 2009 when I was 21 and single. I’m now 30 with with a wife, 2yr old, 1yr old, a 401k and some gray hairs. My current house has about 25k (conservatively) in equity.

Being in a commissioned sales role for most of my professional career I have always been interested in the business of realestate but never made the jump. My wife and I are scheduled to start taking the NY Realestate license corse together this fall. We figured if I want to learn as much as I can this is the first step and it would be a great part time job for her.

I’m putting a 5 year plan together to eventually have 20 units in the form of 7-10 Multifamily houses. From there I hope to turn it into a full time job and really grow!

I recently found a 2/2 double in the Tonawanda (15 mins from downtown) that is being sold through an estate. It was listed at $150k and is now down to $110k I think I can get it down to $85k because of the work needed. It currently has long term tenants with rents of $650 each (which is very low for the area but most likely friend of the deceased owner) and think this could be a great “house hack” investment.

The property needs a good cleaning and some small drywall work and paint. It will eventually (in the next few years) need 2 boilers a partial roof and updates to the kitchens and baths.

I have updated everything in my current house and have friends in the HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing and Construction industry that I can lean on. I understand there will be unforeseen costs but am thinking I can handle the bulk of the grunt work and bring one of them in for the rest.

Looking at the BRRRR strategy here are the numbers once it's all together if I purchased at $100k

Estimated Income Monthly

$850 per unit (I will be in one of the units while we rehab)

Total $1700

Estimated Expenses Monthly

$575 - Mortgage

$475- Tax

$100- Insurance

$50 Water/sewer/Garbage

$0 Lawn/snow

$100 - Vacancy (guess?)

$100- Repairs/CapEx

Total - $1400

Once it’s fully rented I will have $300 monthly cash flow with an additional $200 vacancy/repair/capex budget built in. My thought would be to get it appraised between $150k-$200k and refinance. With that instant equity I would look for my next property and “house hack” to get 3 properties by the end of 2020.

I am looking for thoughts, advice and/or info from any of you with experience. Thanks again!