House hacking in Los Angeles with a family

[Paul Wolfson]

My family and I are looking to purchase a SFR in the LA area, preferable in Valencia or Thousand Oaks. We are looking for 3 or 4 bd houses in the 600-650k price range. We have enough for 20% down, but perhaps there are more creative approaches like using an FHA loan and using the remainder of the 20% for rehab.

Questions.

1. Is there a way to make a house hack work if you have children?

2. Is there a way to use an FHA loan, and remainder of 20% for rehab, but then somehow later refinance into 30-year fixed to lower the mortgage payments?

Thank you in advance. I'm new to BiggerPockets, and so far this has been an amazing resource thanks to this amazing community of knowledgeable people like yourselves.