New Investor In Eastern North Carolina - House Hacking

[Matthew Tussing]

Hello!

My name is Matthew Tussing and I recently moved to Jacksonville, NC (I'm a Marine stationed at Camp Lejuene). I'm brand new to real estate but eager to get started on my journey. I'm interested in buying a 3 bedroom single family home or townhouse to house hack in Sneads Ferry or Holly Ridge. I already have to buddies lined up to be my first tenants. 

Given rent and home prices on 3 bedrooms in the area, it seems like it would be difficult to make a solid cash flow renting out two rooms with a 0 down VA Loan. The VA Loan seems like a great option, but could it make sense for me to look for something else where I can put down some cash and find lower payments? Just trying to do a sanity check here.

Thank you! 

[Emily Howlett]

@Matthew Tussing Welcome to the adventure called real estate! The answer to your question is...it depends.

What do the numbers tell you? Have you run the numbers with the VA loan with money put down rather than zero down? Would that get you where you want to be? What kind of rent would you be looking at for the two roommates? Where else would you be looking at investing and what would your return on that be vs. house hacking? For me, house hacking is a great option since living costs tend to account for some of the highest expenditures otherwise, but everyone is different.

I’d be happy to talk more specifics if you’d like.