House Hacking from Another State

[Tyler Kavan]

Hi. I am starting to look for my first house hack and am a little nervous on pulling the trigger while living in a different state. I work for Kiewit out of Omaha but am currently supporting a project in Arizona. I live there for the most part but am allotted time as part of the job package to come home and see family and friends. I want to buy my first multi family while I am down there so when I fully come back to Omaha, which should be in roughly 7 months, I have a place to live. I am wondering if anyone has any advice on if I should start the buying process or wait until I am back in Omaha.

[Cody Purcell]

Hi Tyler,

So looking to buy a multi in Omaha and will use it as your primary when you come back, correct?  There are obviously a lot of variables to consider... are you looking to put long-term tenants in the other units or try your hand at the AirBnB model?  Are you looking at self-manage or have a property manager?  If your intent is to place long-term tenants and take advantage of a good property manager then it should be more or less hands off for you and the distance shouldn't be too much of a hurdle.  If you're looking to self-manage or more complicated yet, short-term rental then you'll definitely want to be confident in the team you've got in Omaha.  I also work at Kiewit and have done my share of house hacking and I have both long-term and short-term rentals.  We've actually got a place under contract in Atlanta, hoping to close in about 10 days, and I'll be splitting time between Omaha and Atlanta.  It can be done!

Just curious... are you looking to finance as a primary with a low down payment FHA? They hit me hard in underwriting and I ended up having to come up with a bigger down payment than they initially offered due to the current distress in the market. I wonder if they'd give you grief about financing an out of town primary 6-7 months prior to moving back...

Good luck!

-Cody

[Tyler Kavan]

Hello Cody,

Great to see another Kiewit employee on here! You understand my situation fully. I am on a TDY package where my home residence is in Omaha and get the per diem to pay rent in Arizona. I am looking to place long term tenants in the other have of the duplex but want to self manage the property myself solely based on the fact that my turnaround for my job is every other week. I guess I am just a little nervous to start the process being away from home but I feel confident. How did you feel about it all?

Do you think because of my living situation and Omaha being my "permanent residence" the 3.5% FHA would work?

[Cody Purcell]

Managing your own long-term tenants shouldn't be too difficult as long as you've got a good handyman on call just in case.  I personally like having a property manager handle things for me but everyone's style and situation is different.

I'm not a financing expert so probably not the best person to get advise from.  I'd talk through it with your lender and get pre-approved given your present situation.  I know Kiewit will provide a letter of employment saying where your job rec is as well as how long you've been there, salary and all that good stuff.  The only thing there you might have to work through is if the job rec says "based in Arizona" and you're buying a primary residence in Omaha then you might have some explaining to do or extra paperwork to get from Kiewit.  Outside that I'd think you should be fine but again, I'd talk through it with your lender.  Rates are great at the moment though and Kiewit isn't at risk of laying anyone off so might be a decent time to be a buyer...

[Travis Brizendine]

@Tyler Kavan need to occupy within 60 days

[Blake Berke]

@Tyler Kavan you didn't happen to play football at Morningside, did you? Would be glad to connect. 

My wife (@Danielle Berke) and I grew our investments by starting with a duplex house-hack in the Omaha Midtown area and it's been a huge jump start for us. It actually helped push her into RE full-time.  Not sure what conversation needs to be had with a bank but with Kiewit being based in Omaha, and your intent to rent while in Phoenix, it sounds to me like your primary residence would be in Omaha where you own the property.  

[Tyler Kavan]

@Blake Berke Yes I did! That is awesome. I just connected with you, what a small world!

[Dick Rosen]

Put your team together first! Property Manager, Realtor, and any trades people you may need if you think you're going to self manage and a good attorney, especially if you're going to self manage. Once you have your team they can help you vet through the available properties and analyze until you find the right one. Note that you need a Realtor to analyze the sales price but you need a Property Manager to analyze the rentability. Those are 2 different professionals with 2 different

[Danielle Berke]

Hello Tyler, I'm Danielle Berke (Blake's wife) We did this exact thing in Omaha! Let us know if you'd like to connect via telephone, we can experience share on what we did in the past and potentially help you on the acquisition side. 

[Tyler Kavan]

@Danielle Berke That would be great. I would very much enjoy speaking to you guys.