House hacking rookie

[Qadre Lewis]

Hi I’m looking into a duplex as my first investment. I’ve decided to house hack but I’m not much of a handy man. I know that it’ll help me by being more hands on but I was wondering should I handle the basic repairs and leave anything else to a contractor?

[John Lyszczyk]

@Qadre Lewis Depending on the house you buy you may need to get a contractor involved. If there are repairs to be made that you're not comfortable tackling then I would hire someone else or find a friend/family member to help you out. Watch them complete the work on learn from them. 

When I started out, I was a horrible carpenter. I sucked at paying attention to the details and didn't even know the basic terminology of construction and building materials. Thankfully for me I have a step Dad who is very handy. He built his own house and made it self sustaining. He helped me and mentored me in the beginning, but when he wasn't available I had to YouTube what I needed to get done. If a bathroom fan broke, I would Youtube "How to Fix a Bathroom Fan", and that helped expedite my learning/experience. 

 Fast forward three years, I complete nearly all my renovation work on my own. It's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. It's just like anything else in life, the more you do it the better you become. If you're going to invest in Real Estate, you will want to know everything about your asset and how it works. You'll want to know every square inch of that place and invest time into learning how to manage your asset. As you improve, you realize you have more control than many of the other investment vehicles out there, and you gain the confidence to buy more properties. 

Best of luck to you man!