House Hacking in the Greater Boston area

[Shayne Mahoney]

Hello,

I was interested to see if anyone has had success in today’s market, house hacking in the Greater Boston area. Are you able to cash flow when you move out, how you went about the process, etc.? 

Thank you

[DJ Richmond]

@Shayne Mahoney Hi Shayne, it's gotten increasingly more difficult in recent years but it is still possible. It also largely depends how far out of Boston you anticipate going. It likely isn't possible anywhere in Boston proper - think Southie, Brighton, Back Bay, or even Somerville, etc. However, the further outside of Boston you look there are more favorable numbers.

I bought mine a little over 2 years ago in Quincy and live very cheap in a nice two family home while occupying the larger of the two units. When I move out, I should cash flow about $1000 per month and that's with only putting a 3.5% down payment into it ($18,000). In that time, I've also built up over $200k in equity, so selling and realizing the gain and rolling into another investment is also an option.

Again, the market has spiked a lot more in recent years. You're not likely to find good numbers on a two family, so you'd have to look at 3-4 unit buildings. With the larger buildings, the more leveraged you're likely to be, so it comes down to your risk tolerance.