Tips for House Hacking in LA

[Fernando Rabelo]

Hi all,

I live in Los Angeles, where the idea of buying a dream home is far away in the distance due to the high prices of houses in most areas. Rentals are certainly not cheap as well, so I’m constantly battling on what to do next every time my lease is up.

I want to invest out of state, but since I've never owned a house, I'm thinking about taking advantage of being a first time buyer and getting an FHA loan, which will allow me to have a 3.5% down payment. Then, find a duplex which might need some fixing, rent one of the units and live in the other for at least one year. After that, either sell the duplex or hold it as a rental property based on my situation in a year from now.

I’ve been looking for properties in the range of $500-$600k in Pasadena, Monterey Park and Montebello. I know it’s pretty difficult to find a duplex for that price, specially in Pasadena, but if any of you have done anything similar to it in such a competitive market like Los Angeles, please let me know what your thoughts are. I’d love to hear any piece of advice!

Many thanks,