Central FL House Hack and Rental Duplex

[Hilary Stalder]

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $303,000
Cash invested: $50,000

My boyfriend purchased this house as a buy and hold/house hack. It's a little over 1500 sf duplex, each side about 750sf 2/1 units and it is a major fixer upper! We bought the house at $313k and did 3% back in closing costs to maximize cash in hand. The renovations will cost between $40-50k and are mostly maintenance/cosmetic (roof, add AC, flooring, counter tops, paint, trim, doors, etc.). We have a good list of reliable subs that will help us get this done.

We're hoping to have it up and ready for rent by August time frame at which point we'll also move into it. We're expecting the rent out the other side for $1350/month which will cover all but $600 of our mortgage. This will allow us to save exponentially more than ever before! Once we live in it for a year we will find something else to live in and rent out both sides for a cash flow of $300+/month.

The duplex is sandwiched in between two new builds and is also in an up-and-coming area of Winter Park, close to downtown Orlando and major highways (I-4), but also next to all that WP has to offer. Long term we'd like to build new. Once we own the land outright we should be able to build a luxury duplex such as the one next to us to either sell or rent, depending on which makes the most sense at the time. This is a 15-20 year plan.