New RE Investors Looking to House Hack Salem, MA

[Evan Ordway]

Hello Everyone,

My fiancé and I are looking to start our real estate investing careers this year by purchasing a small multifamily property to house hack. We are interested in Salem, Massachusetts as the market seems investor friendly and offers market competitive rents, while properties are slightly less expensive than East Boston where we currently rent. We are targeting the spring as a time to get pre-approved and start looking for a property that we meets our investing criteria, while balancing the expected increase in interest rates, continued price appreciation, and low inventory/DOM. 

I have been tracking the rent and recently sold multifamily properties in Salem for the last seven months and believe a triplex or quadplex would be our best option to decrease our monthly costs while living in one of the units and then create positive cashflow when fully rented. We are planning on living in the property for the next three years before repeating the process. With the competitive market and property prices being $650k+ in Salem, would it be more beneficial to put 10%-15% down with a conventional loan compared to the 3.5% we could get from an FHA loan? Unfortunately, we do not meet the criteria for the first-time homebuyer programs like the ONE mortgage or have enough for 20% down, so PMI/the FHA equivalent will be included.

We look forward to getting to know everyone as we progress in our real estate investing career.

Thanks,

Evan and Katherine

[Nico Dandini]

@Evan Ordway good luck! Highly recommend celebrating with a North Shore roast beef when you close ;D