House Hacking Townhome

[Sergio Carrasco]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $165,000
Cash invested: $8,250

Townhome purchased with a great friend. It was our first place. We were roommates renting an apartment and I suggested we buy something together instead. The plan was to house-hack and rent out the basement to help cover the mortgage.

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

My friend/roommate and I were renting a 2 bedroom apartment. I wanted to buy something ASAP and at the moment I hadn't established enough credit history to purchase something on my own so we teamed up.

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

We didn't know where to start so we called a REMAX office to get connected to an agent. We saw a few places but this one was the winner. The market wasn't as competitive back then so we were able to offer a bit below asking price.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional Loan

What was the outcome?

Still have the property and currently still rent it. We never had to make a mortgage payment out of pocket. We each contributed $125/mo for utilities.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The photos on the listing were terrible but we could tell there was potential. We mostly wanted to check it out because the ceiling looked super glossy and reflective and we were curious as to what it was made of. When we showed up, we saw that the home was in great condition and the owner had made many nice upgrades throughout including the custom latex ceiling. The lesson was to look beyond the terrible photos, you may be pleasantly surprised.