House Hacking: Condo vs. SFH

[Austin Eberle]

Hello everyone,

My name is Austin and I'm currently a house hackee in my brothers' investment property. I reside in the Phoenix area and am looking to purchase either a single family home or a condo as my first property to house hack instead of continuing to pay my brothers' mortgage. I'm currently paying $600 a month to live in a room and share a bathroom, so my idea is if I can pay anything less with either a condo or a single family home then it would benefit me. I plan to use an FHA loan with 3.5% down. I could most likely get a 2 bedroom condo for around 60K-120K with a $100-$200 HOA fee and have the down payment ready right away. If I were to get a single family home then it would take me another 5-6 months for me to save up the amount of money for a down payment on a 3 bedroom home between 200K-250K. I'm mainly asking people's thoughts on my situation and if I should wait to purchase a single family home or jump on getting a cheaper condo right away? Thank you in advance!

[Zach Kracht]

Hey Austin,

I went with the single family route it gives you a little more flexibility, more space to rent out additional rooms or add an addition in the future. Either way you go house hacking is a great idea and I plan to continue for another 2-3 years.