First house hack and RE investment

[Matthew Cook]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment in Erie.

Purchase price: $599,999
Cash invested: $75,000

Purchased a 4200 sqft home with full walk-out and separate entrance. My family live on the top two floors, and we rent out the 1400 sqft basement. We purchased the home, and had to turn the entertainment space in the basement into a kitchen, added a laundry closet with W/D, and finished the second room. Right now it rents for $1700 + $100 utilities.

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

My wife was ready for our next home, we had a good amount of equity from our first live-in flip, and I wanted to try househacking.

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

This was a home our RE agent had us look at. Surprisingly, we weren't interested in new builds, but this one had all our list items for a house-hack and basement rental apartment.

How did you finance this deal?

Loan, and cash from previous sale

How did you add value to the deal?

We had to add backyard landscaping, and created a basement apartment. We added a kitchen/dining space, finished the 2nd bedroom, and added a laundry closet with W/D.

What was the outcome?

We currently cut our mortgage in half, and we live in 2/3 of the house.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Make sure to have a contract with your contractor that has extra money tied to a finishing date, and loss of money every day or week past date.