LA area house hack on multifamily under 400K: pipe dream?

[Shannon Lloyd]

How likely is it to find a duplex under 400K in the LA area that you could get an FHA/203K loan on that would generate enough ROI to get me started as an investor? I'm guessing serious rehab may be involved, yet I'm new at that as well. Initial searching and running the numbers is discouraging, so I guess I'm reaching out for some localized knowledge.

[David Faulkner]

$400k is possible if you go inland ... should be easily doable in Lancaster/Palmdale for example. I would not limit yourself to only duplexes, though. I like single families with no HOA where you can add some sweat equity ... you can still house hack it by renting out rooms. I prefer investing in non rent controlled areas ... much of LA is rent controlled, so you need to research what is and is not rent controlled and if you do buy in rent controlled areas you will need to become very familiar with those laws and legal strategies for succeeding in those areas. FHA/203K will be the harder part ... getting the offer accepted and getting it closed. You will definitely need a top notch agent and a top notch mortgage broker that specializes in these and has a verifiable history of closing them ... everyone will of course say they can close them, but very few actually can/have, you need to find those few and verify it.