Buying first duplex as house hack

[Susan Beard]

Hello from Lubbock, Texas!

My husband and I just went under contract with our first duplex, which we will live in, after doing improvements. We sold our primary residence, after totally redoing it, and are going to let our inherited tenant pay most of our mortgage, while we build up our bank balance in order to have emergency reserves, before we move on to the next property. We are older (he is 60), and this is our retirement plan.

The duplex we are purchasing was inherited by the seller, so he just wanted out. It is in a descent neighborhood, but was neglected by the previous owner for some time. My husband was a paint contractor for decades, and I did all the tile work and flooring in our primary residence. We will have contractors do the majority of the work now, because my husband is working 6 days/ 10 hours a day. We plan on self-managing, for now, so I will handle most of the day-to-day with the rentals. I will work from home part time, as well, until we get more properties. Our plan is to scale as quickly as possible to 10+ doors, then begin paying off one property at a time, using the proceeds, so he can quit his job and replace his income. Any advice from older investors would be great!