House Hacking - From the Agents Perspective

[Aaron Heiskell]

FYI, I'm a Licensed RE Agent here in North Carolina.  

So through my sphere of influence, I had a buyer come to me and tell me that he is looking to make his first home purchase.  Excited for him, I start getting all of his information, get him hooked up with a local lender, preapproved, and off to the races of house hunting. (Note - in our market here in Eastern NC we are seeing small single family homes, literally fly off the shelf, less than a day on market, multiple offers, etc). 

So we spend a day driving around and looking at houses, while we are viewing some, Mr Buyer finally opens up to me and says "Man, I gotta be honest, I know I am preapproved for a reasonable amount, but I don't want to carry a mortgage by myself, and I am tired of renting and paying someone else's mortgage down". Me being the like-minded individual I am, I bring up the option of having a roommate or 2, and he immediately fires back, "Is that a real thing? Do you think the lender will care" - he's a VA buyer, so owner occupancy is a requirement.

-Listen, I tell him, I have house hacked for years, built a substantial nestegg, paid a boatload down on my principal, and finally switched it to a Long Term Rental and am cashflowing almost $500/month.  ***Jaw hits floor, star stuck, immediately wants more, more, more...

He replies, I have two buddies who told me they will pay "X" per month if I buy a place, as long as they have their own bedroom, and they said they would share a bathroom... Great, this is YOUR first step to building wealth I reply.

Continue house hunting... Perfect opportunity comes up, I show him a house, a little small, needs some improvements, priced to sell, like right now.  Called the lender, ran the numbers and got it under contract.

I just got off the phone with him, he says "Aaron, you realize that with the rent money the other two guys are going to pay me, it's going to cover my entire monthly PITI(he didn't use that term but I am), and ALL of my utilities. This is going to allow me to save more money per month, and continue to fix this place up (I ran some comps for what he is wanting to do, he will gain about 20k by doing so).

Yes, I know that Mr Buyer... Are you still nervous about making your first deal? 

***Mic Drop***

Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's too easy.  You just have to get creative and think outside the traditional way of home buying.  

Aaron Heiskell - REALTOR