Newbie Looking to House Hack in NE/SE Portland

Newbie Looking to House Hack in NE/SE Portland

Member since 2019 · 4 posts · 1 vote

Hey everyone this is my first post. I am in the saving stages of my investment journey and am trying to figure out what the best path to success would be.

I am interested in my first deal to be one that I can house hack. I am not interested in large single family homes ( girlfriend wants privacy), so really am interested in duplex, triplex, and quadplex's. I have been analyzing deals of duplex's that have sold in the NE/SE area and am not seeing a way to get close to breaking even on the mortgage cost let alone taxes, repairs ect while occupying one of the units.

I will be looking into an FHA loan, so hopefully that means I would only need 3.5% down. Would I be wiser to save a higher downpayment and look for a 3-4 plex that will be likely to break even/ cash flow? My hope is to not stay more than a few years, so eventually that occupied unit will be rented out as well.

I would love to hear from any investors in the area who have any advice, or have gone through the sort of path I am looking to take. 

Thanks, Jacob 

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  • Real Estate Agent · Portland, OR · Member since 2017 · 117 posts · 59 votes
    6y

    Welcome to BP @Jacob Alastra ! I’m a big fan of the ‘house-hack’ strategy and it’s personally allowed me to take grow faster as an investor knowing that my living expenses are covered at the end of the day.

    I'm an agent in Portland focused on working with investors and in my observation 2-4 unit properties on the MLS are almost always overpriced on a cap rate basis. If you are looking for something closer in, you're going to have a hard time finding anything with decent yield. There are ways to get creative when it comes to house hacking that still bring higher yields. One option is finishing a basement and moving into it and then renting out the main house as a short term rental. In the right neighborhood this will often gross enough to cover all of PITI.

    If you’d like to chat more about it, shoot me a DM!

  • Portland, OR · Member since 2019 · 48 posts · 21 votes
    6y

    @Jacob Alastra

    Congratulations on your first post & welcome to BP :) 

    House hacking is definitely the way to go. I just finished purchasing a home where I had to get creative in Gresham in order to make house hacking work.  Have you considered other areas outside of Portland? 

    Best wishes! 

    Natalie

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