My House Hack and first *investment*

[Brandon Cochran]

Investment Info:

Townhouse other investment in Tampa.

Purchase price: $370,000
Cash invested: $40,000

Primary residence. Started this house hack by renting to a friend that paid me 850$ a month.
Due to some circumstances, he had to move out.
Then, I rented the room to a new tenant (from Facebook) I screened with TransUnion smart move for 1100$/month.
So far, he's been a smooth tenant other than being late on rent a few times.

I would recommend house hacking to anybody looking to get started in real estate as an easy way to offset your mortgage payments.

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

Easy to get started since I had the house already with more bedrooms than I could use.

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

On the MLS with my agent. It was a very competitive market but we were able to get it from filing to be second in position.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing with a local credit union.

How did you add value to the deal?

No value added, it was turn key.

What was the outcome?

The home has appreciated approximately 60k up to this point. As well as having supplemental income from renting out a room.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

ALWAYS screen your tenants. My current tenant had some high debt that came back on his Transunion screen but I decided to move forward with him. While he has taken care of the property, he is almost always late on rent.
Be wary of HOA dues increasing. Mine has increased by 50$ each year, although now they provide free cable and wifi.

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

Lynn DeBoer was my real estate agent and has been a family friend of ours for years

[Tatum Littleton]

This looks like pretty good just on paper, other than the fact that your new tenant is late on rent... as long as that doesn't escalate to bigger problems, I think that's something you can deal with. Good for you for jumping in and getting started with REI!

From the info you provided, I doubt you're cash flowing but that's great you aren't paying your mortgage in full on your own, which I don't think is talked about enough. Cash flow is all anyone talks about but you're saving $1,100 of your income to reinvest in something else, it's not the end of the world to not cash flow (in my opinion), so good on you! 

Keep it up!