ASSUMABLE MORTGAGE ADVICE NEEDED! PLEASE & THANK YOU

[Thomas O'Donnell]

Hey guys, so let me explain my current situation and then ask for advice. I currently live in one side of a duplex and the payment is $2500/mo. I am currently trying to rent out the other side but have been struggling to get a tenant, so I have been eating that whole payment for the last couple months (I'm bleeding out, may have the rents too high in this cooling market). I am going to lower the rent again to see if I can attract more tenants.

Also, the other day I came across a duplex listed online not too far from here, with an assumable mortgage principal and interest payment of $1,241/mo at a 2.65% interest rate, with $302K and 28.5 years remaining on the loan. If I'm understanding this correctly, that is around a $1,600/mo payment for the entire duplex (Estimated total PITI), and in this slower market could rent for $1200/side. Now because it is an assumable mortgage I would be living in one side, however it looks like I would only be paying a couple hundred dollars of my own money just to budget for expenses, and could have around $500-600 monthly cash-flow. The seller's agent indicated that they are selling because they are active military, relocating to TX and do not want to long-distance manage.

So from the looks of it, if I ended up in that duplex house-hacking, with that low rate and monthly payment, I would live for so much cheaper. If I stay in my current duplex and rent the other side for $1200, I would be paying $1300/mo plus utilities and budgeting for expenses.

The assumable mortgage duplex looks like the obvious house-hack winner, but what should I do about the one I am in? I am pretty short on cash, and I still need to fill the vacancy on the other side of my current duplex. How could I potentially make this work? It would be amazing if somehow I could get into that newer duplex and house-hack it, lowering my living expenses by a HUGE amount, and then have both units rented out at my current duplex even if it is at under market rent (and put a couple hundred of my own money up to budget for maintenance/vacancy/repairs). This would also help me live for a lot cheaper and save more towards future investments. I feel like this is a rare opportunity and I honestly don't want to miss out, but what do you guys think?