Moving to Milwaukee! House hacking opps?

Question

Hey Bigger Pockets Friends. I am moving to Milwaukee and have 30,000$ to invest and am looking to buy my first property. I am Just out of college, will be making salary and have no debt.

Any good plays? Or anyone in the area invest? I would love to hear any and all perspectives.

Also, I would be happy to work for free for any investors in the Milwaukee area. I am looking for any experience whatsoever. I’m in the book/podcast overload phase and I just want to see this information applied and get some hands on experience!

Much love,

Riley

Matt Maurice · Answer

Hey Riley,

Congrats and taking a bite out of the REI world!  I house hacked my first 3 properties before buying a single-family to live in, I couldn't recommend the strategy more.  What you learn from being on-site, dealing with your tenant and the maintenance of a property is invaluable.  New investors should always always always manage their property themselves for at least a year (regardless of house hacking or not).  It gives you a true appreciation for the nuance involved when dealing with someone else's housing and is valuable for later on in your career when "managing your manager".

If interested, we are actively hiring for a jr property manager role, a part-time position that is heavily involved with the on-site work (showings, move in/out, DNS inspections).  It might get you a jump start on the inside tips for managing a property, and we'd even be willing to pay you!  ;-)

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

@Riley Brown welcome to BP and to Milwaukee! And congrats on house hacking! If I could go back, this is how I would start. The nice thing about your situation is that you can buy a duplex (owner occupied) with less than 20% down; so as far as your down payment is concerned you can pretty much pick your area and price range. There are several quality neighborhoods to choose from, typically 200 to 300k, some have a little higher price points. I have been an investor much longer than an agent and naturally work with a lot of young investors, which is something I am passionate about. You can take a quick look at my BP profile. I recommend househacking to clients a lot, often they are looking for a SF and after we look at the financial model of a duplex we change strategy - for example we will close a duplex next week with a previous house hack client in Washington Hights, so this is going to be their second property. They bought it with 5% down and the plan is to live their for about a year and then move into a SF - now supported by rental income from 2 duplexes. Some people buy several duplexes before they buy their first SF. You may wonder why I don't mention 4 family - that is an option as well, but most 4fam's in Milwaukee are more the affordable housing type and most of my clients determine quickly that is not how they want to live. Let me know if you have any questions - happy to help!

Brock Mogensen · Answer

My advice is to buy a duplex with an FHA loan and house hack it.  Use some of the remaining funds for education and conferences to learn apartment syndication.  Exactly what I did and I'm at 91 units less than two years in real estate!

Bryan Cerro · Answer

Welcome to Milwaukee!

I was in your position three years ago, a neighborhood I didn't see mentioned here yet was Wauwatosa (which is where I am house hacking). There are affordable duplexes <$200K nestled between single family homes. Something I would advise for Milwaukee is to drive a couple blocks in all directions, the neighborhoods change rapidly, to make sure you feel comfortable in the area.

Brett Kash · Answer

@Riley Brown

Welcome to the area! I’ll echo to reinforce the previous posts that house hacking is great, duplexes are great, lots of options. Bay View, Eastside, Riverwest, or West Allis are all the options I would be looking at for a duplex. The first 3 are super close to downtown which is great for living and also helps support solid rents over time. I am currently house hacking my first duplex and that was definitely a great way to jump into REI. Best of luck to you! Feel free to message with any other questions.

Riley Brown · Answer

@Matt Maurice I appreciate the advice!!! I would be interested in helping out with property management, but I am working full time when I move there. I am training to be a financial advisor, but would love to get some experience on weekends.

Adam Gollatz · Answer

Hi @Riley Brown

two great posts from the guys above. Im active here in Milwaukee as well as a few other markets.  All I will say is house hacking is great, buy a quality property - the more units the better, and DONT WORK FOR FREE. There is plenty to learn in REI from property management, maintenance, construction, deal sourcing, contracting, etc and it is all labor intensive and any serious investor you can learn from pays for these services. So if they cant pay you, they aren't worth your time.

Take @Matt Maurice up on his role.

Feel free to message me or connect if you want to chat more.

Moving to Milwaukee! House hacking opps?

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