1 Month into House Hacking @ Portland, OR

[Khang Nguyen]

Hi BP Community! I've been listening to the podcast on/off for the last few years and have been looking for a duplex/house-hacking opportunity in that span. I made an offer in August 2018 on a duplex but after going through the final inspection and seeing mold in the bathroom ceiling, I wasn't ready to take on such a project as my first investment property.

Fast forward to September 2019 and my girlfriend actually found a perfect place in SE Portland that had a "finished" basement with a separate entrance and bathroom/kitchen. I honestly wasn't looking since I was quite busy at work but she found the property while scrolling through Zillow and we couldn't believe it had been on the market for 56 days! It's a hot market here in Portland for starter homes. The price was within our range ($365k) and the neighborhood was great, however, the house is old at circa 1926 but is common in Portland. I took the dive and made the offer at $365k because I didn't want it to slip away - the seller had it originally at $385k but there were no takers until he dropped it to our price.

We got the keys on 9/25 and have been feverishly doing renovations to the basement unit to make it more livable and we have reached a good stopping point after tearing our the carpet and installing vinyl laminate planks, taking out the cabinets and putting in Ikea ones with butcher block counter tops, and finishing with base board and quarter round molding. We did all the work ourselves and it's been very rewarding to see the progress and finished product - next steps is back splash and moving a gas line, I might sub that one out because I don't want to blow up the house lol Our tenant is currently living in the top unit on a 1 year lease but we're not in a rush to move up to renovate that unit yet.

Just wanted to say hi and see if anybody had any tips for house hacking, renovation ideas/best practices, and overall helpful advice. We probably won't be looking for the next piece of property until we move in the top unit and renovate that so another 2-3 years.