House Hacking Advice Wanted

[Stephen Dunker]

Hello BP Community, 

My name is Stephen Dunker. I am a 25 year old design engineer in Cincinnati, Ohio working towards my PE. I closed on a property in June and am currently house hacking. I will be fixing up a two-bedroom apartment and an efficiency apartment on an adjacent parcel to my single family house and renting them out. I plan to be finished by May of 2022 with the remodel and then move into another property, while continuing to house hack and take the fix-then-rent approach. The single family house, two-bedroom apartment and efficiency unit should generate $3000/month in rental income, while the PITI would be $1500/month.

My plan is to get 10 properties in the next 4 years. 

Any and all advice on how to move from property 1 to property 10 would be appreciated! Anything from securing finances and taxes to tenant management and budgeting.

I appreciate that advice!

[Joseph Cornwell]

@Stephen Dunker congrats on the first property!

Buying your first rental is always the hardest, I had a plan to get 10 units in 5 years and I think I had 16 in less than 2. It certainly scales faster than you would think if you are doing the right things with your personal finances and your investments. House hacking is the best way to begin, and I wish I knew about that at 20 before I got married and had kids, it would have given me a huge head start. Clearly with your goals you won't be able to house hack all 5 most likely since you are "supposed" to live in each for a year before you get another owner occupied loan. With that in mind you will need to save the 20-25% down for the other investment properties. To do this, keep your personal expenses as low or non existent as possible. Look at making extra income through your career or a side hustle. As you buy each property and begin to collect the cash flow make sure you stock that money away toward your next deal, try not to spend any of your ROI. If you do all of these things correctly, and buy the right deals. Hitting your goal will be very realistic. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out. Best of luck!