Investing in my first rental property (House Hacking/Duplex)

Investing in my first rental property (House Hacking/Duplex)

Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes

Hello, BP family. My name is Steven and I've recently begun looking for my first investment property. My strategy is to "house hack" by purchasing a duplex and renting out one unit and live in the other. I've had the privilege of saving up money at my parent's house, where I currently reside, and have amassed about $40K that I can work with. For this reason, I feel putting 20% down on a property to avoid PMI might be a good idea, but I'm not ruling out an FHA loan. I've been pre-approved for roughly a $160K loan, and have been looking at duplexes in this price range and below. Where I live, duplexes are scarce and I've been told it's strictly a "Seller's Market", making it difficult to negotiate pricing as you'll see with a recent offer I made.

I recently viewed a 1BD, 1B/1BD, 1B duplex that's not in the best part of town, but the price was enticing because I could survive if I can't find a tenant or the unit becomes vacant. That being said, it does need some work. However, most of the work appears to be cosmetic. One unit has been (and is currently) occupied for less than a month and the lease is month-to-month for $600. I've provided two images of the exterior of the property and you can see a quick walkthrough of one unit (vacant) here: https://youtu.be/t4Jcu9lCLy0 I should mention that I saw the other unit (occupied), and it looked to be in comparable condition.

I guess you could say I "low-balled" the seller and offered $80K with 3% CC with the understanding that no repairs are to be made by the seller. The seller countered and stood firm on his $95K list price, claiming that he will be breaking even at this figure and that the property will appraise for higher. I'd like to know I'm getting a "deal", but the list price is beyond feasible for me and it wouldn't break the bank if I need to invest an additional $10K-$15K in repairs. My question is essentially this, how bad of a deal would it be if I invested the asking price into this property? Amidst the coronavirus scare, I've also been told to hold off on investing in RE right now. However, if I'm buying and holding, I think that this is not as big a factor. I appreciate ANY and ALL insight/advice, and I apologize for the super lengthy post! Thanks in advance, ya'll! 

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Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 14 votes
6y

@Steven Griff I am not an expert by any means so take this advice with a grain of salt. I also do not know the area so it is really tough to make a fully informed decision. 

First, do you think the other side is currently renting at below, fair, or above what you think it should rent for based on the area and other comparable units? I would look on zillow/apartments.com, etc. to see what other comparable units are renting for in the area and also ask a landlord or two and maybe a realtor or two what they think both sides would rent for now and what they might rent for fixed up. 

Secondly, I personally would rather take a 3.5% or 5% downpayment on FHA loan if you can still get one right now vs. putting all that cash down and depleting your reserves in a very volatile market. The PMI can't be that much on a property that is only gonna sell for 95k. IMO you are way better off going with a low downpayment and saving that extra cash for necessary repairs and reserves. Obviously, completely your call.. that is just my opinion.

Third, I would look into the area of this duplex as far as future appreciation, as I am sure you have read: you should never bank on appreciation but since you mentioned your goal is to do long term buy and hold with this property, being in the path of progress or an area that seems to be up and coming would sweeten this deal for me if I was the one buying. 

Lastly, I would take all the info you need to gather and plug that into the bigger pockets calculator and then run a worst case scenario, a likely scenario and a best case scenario on it. Hope this helps! 

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  • Rental Property Investor · Modesto, CA · Member since 2019 · 16 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    @Steven Griff

    Hey Steven, I’m also new to this and I’m looking for similar products but in a different market. Have you tried using the rental market calculator? It’s real helpful and gives you a better analysis on your propert you are viewing.

  • Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    Hey @Edgar Verdin, I've used the calculator and it shows that I'll be losing around $50-$100 each month while I'm living in one unit. Although not ideal, I think this is much better than forking out $500+ a month to rent somewhere vs. paying down my own home. Once fully rented, it's estimated to cashflow around $200-$300 a month with a 13% Cash-on-Cash ROI. These numbers seem fair, but I'd love to learn if this is worth the investment or if I should keep hunting for a better deal. One concern is that the property is in a not-so-great, industrial area (some newly constructed homes on the street, but some foreclosures, including the neighboring property as well), I'd also be interested in hearing other's stories of their first investment/experience w/ duplexes.

  • Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2020 · 40 posts · 14 votes
    6y

    @Steven Griff I am not an expert by any means so take this advice with a grain of salt. I also do not know the area so it is really tough to make a fully informed decision. 

    First, do you think the other side is currently renting at below, fair, or above what you think it should rent for based on the area and other comparable units? I would look on zillow/apartments.com, etc. to see what other comparable units are renting for in the area and also ask a landlord or two and maybe a realtor or two what they think both sides would rent for now and what they might rent for fixed up. 

    Secondly, I personally would rather take a 3.5% or 5% downpayment on FHA loan if you can still get one right now vs. putting all that cash down and depleting your reserves in a very volatile market. The PMI can't be that much on a property that is only gonna sell for 95k. IMO you are way better off going with a low downpayment and saving that extra cash for necessary repairs and reserves. Obviously, completely your call.. that is just my opinion.

    Third, I would look into the area of this duplex as far as future appreciation, as I am sure you have read: you should never bank on appreciation but since you mentioned your goal is to do long term buy and hold with this property, being in the path of progress or an area that seems to be up and coming would sweeten this deal for me if I was the one buying. 

    Lastly, I would take all the info you need to gather and plug that into the bigger pockets calculator and then run a worst case scenario, a likely scenario and a best case scenario on it. Hope this helps! 

  • Rental Property Investor · New Castle, DE · Member since 2017 · 95 posts · 102 votes
    6y

    @Steven Griff I'm a afraid you're focusing too much on PMI. Lets just do the math on your scenario. Lets say you go conventional 20%, that's about $19,000 (not including closing fees). If you went FHA that down payment is ~$3,500 (not including closing fees. PMI for a loan that size is MAX $50. So you're losing about $15,500 in purchasing power just to avoid paying $50 a month.

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