Looking for house hack advice in southern LA County

[Erik Luna]

Hey BiggerPockets community, hope everyone is doing well!

I was wondering if anyone here has had any success investing in multi families in the southern Los Angeles County area (Bellflower, Norwalk, Long Beach, Whittier, Lakewood etc..).

I'm looking to Househack a duplex and am trying to get a better idea of which areas are best for that particular strategy and maybe hoping to get some advice from experienced investors in the area.

Thanks!

[Jon Schwartz]

Originally posted by @Erik Luna:

Hey BiggerPockets community, hope everyone is doing well!

I was wondering if anyone here has had any success investing in multi families in the southern Los Angeles County area (Bellflower, Norwalk, Long Beach, Whittier, Lakewood etc..).

I'm looking to Househack a duplex and am trying to get a better idea of which areas are best for that particular strategy and maybe hoping to get some advice from experienced investors in the area.

Thanks!

Erik, good move pursuing the househack! I househacked a duplex last year with my wife and toddler. I wish I had figured out the value of this years and years ago when I bought my first house.

I'm confident you can find a duplex to suit your needs in southern LA. I'm just south of Hollywood in a neighborhood called Hancock Park. It's an expensive neighborhood that we couldn't afford if we bought a house, but we managed to find a duplex here that, with the rental income, we can afford. Not only that, but we're paying less to live here than our tenants, and we're growing tons of equity with the principal paydown. Househacking is a huge, foundational move for anybody who undertakes it.

The area that's going to work best for househacking is the area where you want to live. Since it's your home, you gotta be comfortable and happy there. It's worth losing a little ROI to keep yourself happy and sane.

That said, I'm a nerd about LA real estate, and I've started making some maps. Lemme screen shot my most recent, hold on...

Here we go:

 That's about the area you're considering mapped for median income. The colors represent current median income of each census tract. Dark red is $30K or less, bright green is $150K or more, and the gradients in between represent median incomes between $30K and $150K.

The arrows represent median income growth over the last five years. Big arrows mean more income growth. Small arrows means less income growth. No arrows means no or negative income growth.

When I look at this map, I focus on areas that are red with big arrows and near greener areas. These areas have relatively low median incomes that are growing relatively quickly, and they're adjustment to higher-income areas. In other words, these areas are the path of progress/improvement/gentrification -- whatever you want to call it.

I notice that inland Long Beach is quite red but with long arrows. That's good! Central Whittier is red and near green, but there's no arrow -- that's not so good. Bellflower has a lot of red and long arrows, and it's just above mostly-green Lakewood, so I'd look further into Bellflower, too.

All other things being equal, where would you want to live? Maybe we can start there and fine-tune the exact submarket you should focus on....

Best,

Jon