First Deal, House Hack a fourplex

[William Mccauley]

Hello all! 

This is my first BP post. Through the necessity to get out of my rental, and loving to get a deal on everything I buy, I have found BP and the REI mindset here. Given my circumstance I have set my sights on a multi family to get my foot in the door get out of my rental and get some what I'm sure will be hard earned experience at REI. Here is the best thing Ive found so far:

Victorian style fourplex close to downtown colorado springs in about 75% renovated neighborhood. 

$295k

Rents: 2600

Expenses 

mortgage/insurance/tax: 1625 

utilities (water sewer gas) : 250 

8% vacancy: 215 

5% capex: 130 

5% maintenance: 130 

total: 2350

I would be living in one unit as soon as it opens in December. It seems to have a good demand for renters, all leases have been renewed 3-5 times. Inspection to follow but they claim roof, electric plumbing were done 10 yrs ago. Units all have new paint and laminate floors. Assuming theres no major issues, all thats left for value add is curb appeal which could be a bonus for me. I see this as a buy and hold deal, but would be flexible to different exits. 

Thanks for your insights, 

Luke 

[Kyle Myers]

@William Mccauley If that rent is for both units total, I would not do the deal personally. It will be hard to cashflow any property that doesn't meet the 1% test (rent/price) with a mortgage. It also doesn't look like a good deal if you do the 50% rule. Take 50% of the rent for nonmortgage expenses ($1300) then subtract the mortage and what you have left over is cash flow...in this case you're in the red. You aren't factoring in property management which would be another $260. I know you plan on living in it now and managing it, but you don't want to plan on that forever. Check out my blog post here about my first deal I just bought on a SFR turnkey and how I did my analysis. https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8313/49907-par...

Shoot me a message if you have any more questions. My opinion is to keep shopping around, if you want to house hack, a better option may be to rent out rooms in a SFR.