"Adult" house hacking tips in NoVA, any tips?

Question

I realize it's a pretty brutal market, so just looking for any other ideas for neighborhoods/tips that might help me in this situation.

Currently renting and looking to buy, but would like to avoid a direct roommate situation if possible - more like separate unit / basement with entrance / etc. Also ideally looking for metro access, but that of course adds more cost.

For staying closer in, I think this mostly means Del Ray, Old Town, or further out Falls Church or Huntington.
Possibly open to DC, though I would prefer to stay in VA for better landlord rights I think.

With interest rates > 5%, I'm seeing most modest townhomes in Del Ray end up with roughly $4k mortgage payments, and a basement might rent for $1200-$1300 if done nicely. This inventory is also really hard to find, and many basements are incredibly small and may not even be rentable that way. Open to using AirBNB for a converted space as well.

I'm not looking to head way out to springfield or super far south just because I'd like to maintain some kind of social life.

Anything else you'd target? If you were me would you:

1. Suck it up and just go for the higher payment in Del Ray/Old town where income might only cover 1/3 of mortgage unless I add another live-in roommate but get the better location/appreciation. These places would also be top of budget for me and I can barely swing them now on my income, but could be a good hold long term.

2. Just give up the socialness and do a cheaper area like Huntington or Falls Church. I'm not sure if I'd have a better chance there.

3. Give up metros entirely and find a SFH that I can get cheaper. My fear here though is that it might be a lot harder to find tenants if I don't have metro access, or the rent would be considerably lower.

4. Just give up on house hacking entirely in the DC area and buy a condo or something, and invest in remote real estate in more affordable areas.

Budget ~ $800k @ 5% right now / $4k-ish payment, maybe some flexiblity right now, but depends on how badly rates rise. Of course if the house hack situation allows for more rental income (i.e. 2 rental units/etc) then I'd be open to a slightly higher budget. I do have a good amount of capital I could use for down payment.

Feeling very desperate/frustated/screwed right now with these interest rate increases.

Cassidy Burns · Answer

I would recommend, in this current market, buy a 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom condo for around $550,000. Buy it with 3% down ($18,000-$22,000). Live in it and hold for the long term. Buy a secondary home in the Shenandoahs for 10% down as your next investment purchase and then eventually try to buy get bigger house in DMV once the market stabilizes. I do believe that the DC condos are the best current value in the market.

Good luck!

Joseph Ayoub · Answer

We ended up in Silver Spring, close to downtown. Silver Spring as a whole spans a large area, but the neighborhoods within the beltway have a mix of young professionals and families. Downtown itself has a decent number of breweries/food options, grocery stores, and things to do, while still being a short metro/Uber ride to downtown DC. Depending on the ZIP/neighborhood, some of the houses have really good value add opportunity. Would be happy to talk more about it and our process if you want and more options on the Maryland side.

Joseph Ayoub · Answer

Hey, Neil. My fiancé and I went through a similar search process recently when looking for a house in the DMV to house hack. In my experience, rents are higher in DC and its a bit easier to find/convert a basement into an in-law suite (since you want to avoid sharing space with potential roommates). $800k can get you some decent row house in DC where you can easily create an English basement that would be great for AirBnB or a long-term tenant. Some neighborhoods that come to mind are Brightwood, Takoma, Manor Park, and even parts of Fort Totten, Brookland, and Michigan Park. All of those neighborhoods are relatively metro and public transit accessible and can attract great renters.

However, if you're set on staying in VA the two key questions are what is your potential exit strategy and how much effort do you want to put into that? To address all your options above:

1. I think this is the best option, since Del Ray/Old Town is an excellent location and attracts good tenants. If you're not looking to share space with roommates, its definitely still a win that you can lower your housing expense while building equity in an excellent neighborhood. However, I don't think a ton of properties in those neighborhoods would rent for $4k+ a month if you were to move out. So your exit strategies are to rent by room after you move out (higher effort than traditional whole house rental) or to sell the house, but that might mean you need to stay there for several years to ensure you can make money on the sale or do improvement (potentially medium or high effort).

2/3: Huntington and Falls Church are also solid options and a SFH is definitely attainable. I think that strategy is okay and might open you up to being able to rent the whole house after moving out, since price points are a bit lower. Renting out the entire dwelling is definitely lower effort than rent by the room, but you are correct that rents are typically lower in those neighborhoods, especially when not close to a metro. The WFH/Uber trends might be changing that, but metro access and DC proximity are still selling points for now.

4. I am personally not a fan of condos since it seems like you'd have to put a decent amount down for them to cash flow. And you have to deal with HOAs which can be hit or miss. But they are typically in prime locations and might be less headache, so if you're choosing to keep it as a rental after you move, thats a plus.

The DMV is a tough market for sure right now, but you definitely got this and can figure something out. Best of luck with your search!

Russell Brazil · Answer

Legal multifamily on the the west side of the river, you're generally going to need to be at a higher price point save for the few smaller multis in Trinidad. The one I sent you, that would be amongst the cheapest ones that exist on the west side of the river. You can go east of the river for more or cheaper inventory.

Right now the cheapest listed legal multi is $1 million on the west side of the river. Cheapest east side of the river is $400k.

Multifamily is rare in the metro area, and rare leads to expensive. Same with properties with ADUs. Got to either up your budget, adjust expectations to what the price gets you, or change locations to the east side of the river. Cant get a $1 million asset for $800k unfortunately.

Neil Quinn · Answer

Where did you end up Joseph? Honestly once these rates push up this week I'm not sure I can do 800k anymore unless the house hack is really effective. I'm really pushing my budget trying to afford things at this point.

You're right that most properties in Del Ray would only rent for around $3000-$3300 or so and might creep up over time, so my exit would require really counting on appreciation or rent growth over 5-7yrs. Would the SFHs in those other areas be able to rent for the full mortgage amount though? I'm not sure if that's true.

Main reason I didn't want to do Huntington/Falls Church is just because they are such a ways out and I'm still single so it would seem hard to do anything. I mean there is literally nothing in Huntington but the metro and like 3 stores.

Agree with strongly disliking condos, but I'm just running out of options because i'm an idiot and waited to buy. My mental health has gotten really bad these last 3-4 months while i've been looking and watching the rates skyrocket =/

Neil Quinn · Answer

Definitely is small but surprised you were seeing $700k-ish. I think when I was looking at listings in that area most were in the $850-$900k range (but down below in Brightwood a lot cheaper).

I'd actually love to be close to rock creek park and Takoma there for a play like that. The issue would probably be finding people that would want to rent a room from me short term while I lived there I think.

Actually, I may be slightly confusing Shepherd Park which is just north - I was thinking of that as all one area.

Russell Brazil · Answer

You can get a property in Takoma for $700kish that you can add bedrooms to the basement in. Riggs Park, the section 8 rents are not that high. Takoma is an incredibly small neighborhood though, so you need to really be aggressive when the property comes, because another one might not come for awhile. I helped @Kevin Leahy buy in Takoma a few months ago with a plan of implementing this strategy.

Jack Seiden · Answer

The biggest issue with section 8 in your case is either you need a two unit or it would have to be non-owner occupied (meaning higher rates at 20% down.) you can’t rent by the room section 8 as far as I’m aware. It’s a tough market, truly empathize with how hard it is as someone who lives here myself. At your price point I’d just buy a single family with a walkout basement where ever you can afford that. Prince George’s county is still fairly affordable.

Neil Quinn · Answer

I don't see rf1 as an option for dc zoning here? https://dcoz.dc.gov/page/summa...

"Adult" house hacking tips in NoVA, any tips?

"Adult" house hacking tips in NoVA, any tips?

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