Closed on my first multi!

[Chris Roche]

Hey everyone!

    I recently closed on my first two family in North Weymouth, Mass, which is just south of Boston.  The property is a multi-family with a 2 car garage and ocean views.  One unit is a 1 bed and 1 is a 3 bed.  The 1 bed was recently redone.  I already found a tenant for the 1 bed as well.  My wife and I are living in the upstairs 3 bed unit while rehabbing it.  Last weekend I redid the bathroom with a new floor, vanity, and toilet.  Next up, is redoing the kitchen and lots of painting!  The roof also needs to be reinforced ASAP.  The good news is I am already collecting rent from my other unit as I fix up the bigger unit.

Because people will ask here are the numbers. Bought the house for $402,000 with a $7,000 credit towards closing. Used owner-occupied FHA 3.5% down. We had more money, but we are currently fixing up the property and wanted as much cash as possible to do so. We saved for years to get into the game. We don't live for free after collecting rent but we only need to pay about $1000 to live there, which is way less then what we were paying in rent. After moving out of the property we should be making about $1200 a month in rent(even more once we refi to eliminate PMI). Which brings me to my question: How can I get another property quickly? If we don't live in it we are going to need 20-25% down and that could be 100k. It would take forever to save that! Any suggestions?

[Chris Gibbs]

With FHA you only have to live there for 1 year then you can move out and get another owner occupied loan for a new property. You cant however use FHA again unless you refinance out of your current one. I just recently bought a triplex and an extremely experienced investor in my area said the road map for FHA house hacking should work like this.

1.  Buy multifamily property and move in.

2. Once you can refinance to get PMI off and you will cash flow with new terms, do so.

3. Save for next FHA financed deal and move in once you find one.

4. repeat.

Hope that helps and congrats on your first deal!