SFH Starter Home Turned into Value-Add Duplex!

[Joseph Salzillo]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $340,000
Cash invested: $11,900

This is a duplex house-hack that my clients closed on in a lovely B+ class town in central Connecticut. These buyers were originally going to look for a single-family starter home closer to New Haven county, but many of the houses that were worth bidding on were out of their price range. I ended up suggesting to them what I consider one of the best ways to begin building wealth: house-hacking.

What was the outcome?

We ended up finding them a duplex with value-add potential by updating the 3/1 that they will live in year one, then updating the 2/1 upstairs year two for gross rent potential of $3,700/mo after they move out of the property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

As if this isn't enough, the property itself is Zoned I-1 industrial, AND comes with a large plot of land with a significant amount of frontage on the road. With an approval of a variance with this town, they should be able to subdivide that vacant plot of land and either sell if off or build another structure on it while retaining I-1 zoning! That's a huge upside potential that needed to be considered when placing an offer!