House Hacking around the country

[Cody McVay]

Hello all,

I have completed one House Hack and am potentially taking a great job opportunity where I will be relocated to three different locations around the U.S. two are going to be for a short period and one being my end location. I am hoping to cover my cost of rent in these locations and house hacking is the best way I know how. Is it possible to house hack this much if I could be relocating in 9 months to a year and does it make sense to do so as I will have properties in potentially 4 different markets.

Thanks for your help in advance!

P.s. I certainly don’t plan on halting my investing, so my other option is just to keep investing in Columbus (where I believe I’ll end back up at the end of this rotation anyways) as I move to different locations and essentially become an out of state investor.

[William Kwong]

Hey @Cody McVay, I guess it will really depend on your financials & what your expectations are with each home you plan to house hack. From a loan perspective, if it's an owner-occupied loan, you'll qualify for a lower down payment but the bank may require you to live there for 12 months. (At least that's how it is in NJ to my understanding.) So you might have to put that 25% down instead and you'll most likely receive a higher interest rate if it's for investment purposes. Of course taking into account mgmt costs 7-12% for each property to see if the numbers make sense for your ROI for each individual property. I see the appeal since you'd have to commit to renting for the next two years if you didn't house hack but seems difficult to pull off.

Just my opinion of course, I would stick with building your rental portfolio in Columbus and expanding later. it's a market you're familiar with and from what I heard has a lot of potential if you're OK investing from a far for the time being. I guess I would want 4 props close by than 4 in different states but that's just me. I think if you were able to figure out the finance side of things it would give you a better idea of next steps and how feasible it is. Let me know how you make out!!!