Charlotte Investing for a New Investor

[Michael Boylan]

Hi all,

Just graduated back in May and moved to Charlotte. I'm anxious to get into real estate investing, and want to buy a property and house hack come August when my current lease is up.

Second, is Charlotte too risky to invest in? Is it possible to find a deal on a place that cash flows? I'd consider buying out of state but I still will need to find a place to live, so either I continue to rent an apartment or I attempt to house hack. Just wondering if any Charlotte investors have any advice. I'll be working with about $15K in August so my options are slightly limited. Thanks in advance!

Michael

[Tom ONeil]

@Michael Boylan depending on what areas of Charlotte or what suburbs you are looking in, there are still some opportunities for Cash Flowing deals. If you were to house hack, I would expect that having individual roommates would cover more of your mortgage and actually allow you to save more than renting with roommates. 

For example (I haven't looked a lot into this area, but just a quick MLS Search), Fairies Farm near UNCC, if you were to purchase a 3/2 for $178,000 with $15k down, your all in cost (PITI) would probably be somewhere in the $1100 per month range. If you can get 2 roommates to pay $500 a month each and you guys split utilities as opposed to splitting $1200 a month rent 3 ways (your rental comps in this neighborhood are $1200-1300 per year. If you do move out after a year you COULD have positive cash flow, depending on your maintenance, vacancy, management (if you do decide to use a manager), etc.

Like Elliott stated, you have to start running some comparisons for where you would like to live and see if the numbers make sense. If you're trying to buy something in Uptown, NoDa, South End, Elizabeth, not a good chance of it working out.