Househacking in Greater NYC v/s OOS SFR Investments

[Murtuza Bengali]

Hi BP Community,

We are a 30+ yr old couple with a one year old baby, renting in NYC for the past ten years. We recently purchased our first SFR property in Greensboro, NC. Now that we have set off on this journey and rents in NYC skyrocketing, we are contemplating whether to continue expanding on out-of-state SFR investments or explore the path of FHA approved house hacking in NYC/NJ metro area.

Our question is twofold:

1) Assuming we qualify for an FHA loan, are there decent multi-family deals sub $1MM available in the greater NYC area (we both work in midtown)? Are there certain pockets for multi-family housing better than the others?

2) How many units worth of multi-family (2, 3 or 4) is economically viable to limit the net outgoing to less than $3.5K a month. Considering the EMI on a $1MM multi-family @5% for 30Yr fixed is $5,400+property tax+insurance.

We are just looking for guidance from people who are debating on the same topic or folks who have already executed house hack and have a positive or negative point of view on this topic. I'm sure it is tricky going from being tenants to landlords! Looking forward to hearing from everyone

Thanks

Murtuza