My husband and I will be taking over his parents’ house in Dorchester(located near fields corner) due to the passing of his dad and his mom not really wanting to be a homeowner anymore. It’s a 2 family with tenants on the first floor and my mother in law on the second/third floor. We have no landlord/investing exp(we currently rent in Quincy) but want to buy our first property in the next year. We want to do a multi family house hack so I can pay down my student loans(currently have 200k in debt) I have a few questions and my apologies in advance if this sounds very basic but we really have no experience.

1. The rent at my inlaw’s place is currently way below market value. They are paying 1200 for a 3br 1ba and parking is included. Rents in surrounding areas are 1900+. They are long term tenants( I think they have been living there for 10yrs plus). The rent covers the majority of the mortgage with out of pocket expense from my in laws being 200 bucks a month. I know the apartment needs updating just not sure how much(planning on doing a walk through hopefully this wknd). Is it a good idea to raise the rent and if the tenant moves get financing(maybe a home equity loan) and rehab the apartment and get new tenants to pay market value?

2. We want to buy a multi family and house hack it to be able to live rent free or possibly lower housing cost so I can aggressively pay down my debt. Would it be smart instead of trying to change anything at the Dorchester property use the equity for a down payment on a house for us so I can get closer to my goal of getting rid of my student loans?

3. My in laws’s house comes with 3000sq ft vacant land right next to the house. What can I do with the lot from an investor’s point of view?

We plan on going to real estate investors meeting this wk to try and network. Is there any other suggestions anyone recommends to help educate us. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Boston, Massachusetts

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