Small Multi-Family House Hack

[Hilary Stalder]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Winter Park.

Purchase price: $303,000
Cash invested: $50,000

My boyfriend purchased this house as a buy and hold/house hack. It's a little over 1500 sf duplex, each side about 750sf 2/1 units and it is a major fixer upper! We bought the house at $313k and did 3% back in closing costs to maximize cash in hand. The renovations will cost between $40-50k and are mostly maintenance/cosmetic (roof, add AC, flooring, counter tops, paint, trim, doors, etc.). We have a good list of reliable subs that will help us get this done.

We're hoping to have it up and ready for rent by August time frame at which point we'll also move into it. We're expecting the rent out the other side for $1350/month which will cover all but $600 of our mortgage. This will allow us to save exponentially more than ever before! Once we live in it for a year we will find something else to live in and rent out both sides for a cash flow of $300+/month.

The duplex is sandwiched in between two new builds and is also in an up-and-coming area of Winter Park, close to downtown Orlando and major highways (I-4), but also next to all that WP has to offer. Long term we'd like to build new. Once we own the land outright we should be able to build a luxury duplex such as the one next to us to either sell or rent, depending on which makes the most sense at the time. This is a 15-20 year plan.

Update October 2019: Rented Side 1 in August 2019 before we moved in in September 2019. Had a major plumbing issue that set us back $3k but glad we knew about it and had the extra income to offset our little "suprise". Otherwise has been a great investment!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

House hacking seemed like an AWESOME way to get into rental properties without going all in and not liking them. There really was no downside to it! We wanted to downsize so we could save money, but it was also a great intro to the rental game!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS, and investor bought it a year back in a foreclosure sale. He was very straightforward with his bottom line so we got right up to it. The house did not appraise because the inspector did not include the front area as SF in his appraisal. So we were able to negotiate a little more off the deal (knowing we were going to put everything under air and increase the value substantially).

How did you finance this deal?

FHA loan. We BARELY passed the FHA inspection. We had to make a couple repairs earlier than expected to get through the inspection process.

How did you add value to the deal?

We did a FULL Makeover: new roof, added central air, new floors, drywall repairs throughout, new paint, new front door, new fixtures, replaced some windows, new ceiling fans throughout, one side completely new kitchen, otherside half a new kitchen, complete bathroom makeover, and new door hardware/trim.

What was the outcome?

Rented the other side for asking rent ($1395) before we even moved into the other side! Now we're realizing when we decide to move out of the one side we can ask for more rent when we decide to move!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

When we first moved into the second side of the duplex we had a major plumbing issue with backup on our side. We called Roto-router and they messed around for 2 days before we called our friends with a plumbing company. Roto router charged us twice as much as our friends to NOT fix the problem. Our lesson is to use our resources and ALWAYS have reserves. Lucky for us we did.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am a real estate agent, but I had my fiance represent himself so I didn't have to pay taxes on any "income". I helped him through the process and found him the deal.