How do you house hack in an area as expensive as Long Island?

[Kiersten James]

Hi all,

My husband and I are one month away from being debt free and will be in a good position to jump into RE.

One issue we're having is the simple question of how to actually pull it off. We're in Long Island and the average one family house price is $400-$450k with $12-15k/yr in property taxes. Utilities are higher, PMI is a thing, we have low reserves but excellent credit and income around $12k take home/month between both of us.

Second issue. We are simultaneously looking for our first house. Do we buy a primary home for us and then a second investment property after? Or house hack the first house and sacrifice a few years? We’re in our early thirties with a 2 year old and dog. Having a back yard and home for them is important to us and we aren’t sure we want our daughter to share close living spaces with strangers.

So....is it a poor area to house hack? Should we be doing this out of state like the Poconos? So confused.

Thanks in advance.