House Hacking on My First Investment

[Colten Roney]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $262,000

Cash invested: $11,000

Decided to get out of student housing and paying rent. I wanted to learn being a landlord.

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

I wanted to pay less than I was paying in renting an apartment

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

MLS. I used an agent but negotiated the price. We went back and forth 4 times but got the price down $10k.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional through a bank.

How did you add value to the deal?

Negotiating the price and securing tenants ahead of time (friends).

What was the outcome?

Successful house hack and living with friends. They are paying 95% of the mortgage with me living in it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

There were many times I panicked trying to find tenants. Even good friends can be flakey. Good and constant marketing brought in perspective tenants. Good screening got rid of the fear. Not all my tenants were friends I had met before moving in. Even though it's very important to get someone in and start getting those payments every month, it's more important to have good tenants that fit your personality. Being a landlord (even of one house) is a constant effort and not for the lazy.