I'm hoping to move to the Charlotte area this spring and wanted to get some opinions on my approach. My plan is to look for a SFH to house hack. Obviously, these are not very easy to come by at the moment. I'm looking for something that can make sense as an investment property, but also something I will be okay living in for a couple of years. I work from home so I would like a property that has enough space for me and my renters (maybe a 4/2 or 4/3 2000+ sq. ft.) I'm planning to use a 3% down conventional mortgage as this is what i can afford at the moment. Once (if) I find a place, I would live there for ~2 years while I pay off my student loans and get the LTV on the property to <80% so the private mortgage insurance will fall off.

So, my questions is, what is my best bet in making this work? I can't offer cash or 40k+ over asking like others can. I don't think I realistically have any leverage to win a bidding war. I've never owned a house. My realtor suggested looking at Offerpad and Opendoor as possibilities. What about new construction? I just thought of this last night, but wouldn't this eliminate the bidding war issue? It looks like you can still get a brand new house in the Charlotte suburbs for ~$200/sq.ft., which is like the same price homes are going for on the MLS. What's the catch here? Can you buy a new construction for 3% down? Do people bid on new construction like they do the MLS, or is it first-come-first-serve? Is there a waiting list for the new construction builds or are they sold out instantly? I looked on Zillow and actually see a good amount of 'new construction' homes that are 'available' in the Charlotte suburbs for under 400k. (see zillow link below). This doesn't really make sense to me though as the market is so competitive right now. How are there perfectly good new-construction builds just sitting in nice suburbs that aren't being snatched up within a day or two? I feel like I'm missing something here...

I appreciate any feedback from those in the Charlotte area, as I'm trying to wrap my head around my options here. Am I just flat-out crazy for trying to buy a SFH in Charlotte spring of 2022? Thanks again for reading and any feedback provided to this first-time homebuyer!

https://www.zillow.com/communi...

Charlotte, North Carolina

2 Votes