Accidental House Hacker?

[Andrew Poitras]

First off- hi, my name is Andrew. 

I’ve always had a curiosity about real estate but it wasn’t until this year, or rather this month, that I really truly considered making a full career shift toward it. 

Two-ish years ago I purchased my first home, a single family residence, in Echo Park, Los Angeles. I had the best paying job I’d ever had as a Digital Content Director at a small TV Network and they required I relocate from Brooklyn to work out of their Glendale offices. 

I looked at about 15 homes on my search but ended up purchasing the first home I saw: an adorable 2 1/2 bedroom, 1 bath tucked away up a hill and surrounded by succulents. Using an FHA loan, I was able to close on $520,000 with only $18,500 in cash up front. I didn't realize that what I was doing was "house hacking" but now it seems that is exactly what I was doing.

Unfortunately the TV network laid me off the same week I closed, so I had some things to figure out. 

I moved into the home with my girlfriend at the time, and we oscillated between having roommates and running an airbnb business out of the home to stay above water, among other things. After a year of interviewing, freelancing, and pulling my hair out, I went back to NYC to accept a job that would allow me to keep the house. It became a full time Airbnb, and now with significant equity built up in the property, and with the market being at what many believe to be its peak, I have finally decided to put it on the market. 

I work a great job in NYC, but with a not great boss. And like many, I ache to regain control of my day to day. My home is estimated (by Zillow and Redfin, not by an appraiser) at being worth roughly $775,000. I owe $492,000 to my mortgager and an additional $65,000 for my renovation loan, which I used to replace the electric, HVAC, windows, solar system, lights, and fans. Given that Redfin and Zillow don’t know that I made all these capital improvements, in may be worth more than the aforementioned estimate and it’s conceivable that I could net $200,000 on a sale. This is the capital I would like to leverage into a full times flipping business. 

I am studying BiggerPockets, speaking to people in my network like my agent and my Uncle, another successful property owner. I have not made any hard moves yet (after all, need a serious buyer first), but when I do I would ideally leave my day job. 

I’m happy to be here, happy to be connected to you all, and open to learning from anything you think would help me on my journey.