Is this a good deal?

[Michael Tucker]

I'm looking at a buy and hold property. It's a 1900 sqft. 4 bedroom 2 bath house  (built in the 50's) with an attached mother-in-law suite that has one bedroom, a kitchen (converted garage), and a bathroom. I think the mother-in-law suite could either be a short term rental or serve as a fully furnished rental. Here are my options:
1. Rent out the whole thing to a very large family.

2. Rent out the House part and the mother-in-law suite separately (could also be a short term rental). 

3. Live in one part of it as a house hack and rent out the other side depending on demand.

In the absolute best-case scenario, I think I could potentially get up to $2400 a month in rent because this is a college town. I think I could rent each room for up to $450 as a student rental + $600 for the fully furnished mother-in-law suite / short term rental. I think the house portion would rent for around $950 - $1000 to a family. At worst, I think I could make $800 a month on some sort of house hacking strategy - live in the main part with a roommate and rent out the MIL suite, or rent out the main house while living the MIL suite. So in the worst case, I'm living for free.

Other variables: It's a 1-acre lot that's zoned for multi-family and has enough leftover space that I could use someday for a triplex or just divide it and sell.

New roof in 2019, new hot water heater and HVAC within the last 3 years.

The utilities are combined so I'd either have to include it in the rent or work out another solution.

I think I can get it at $120,000 with either 15% down on an investor loan or 5% down on a conventional mortgage.

Taxes: $950
Insurance: $1200
I would manage it myself for now.
In my various scenarios, I either run $1000 a year for expenses for living in the main house and renting out the MIL suite or up to $3000 a year in expenses for the student rental scenario. (keep in mind new roof, water heater, and HVAC)

[Michael Tucker]

Originally posted by @Kevin Zolea:

@Michael Tucker Gotcha. I think it's still a good idea to include property management in your numbers because I'm sure one day you won't want to manage it yourself. But that makes sense. I don't know anything about your market but if the numbers work and they meet your criteria, I think you should go for it. Like you said, even at your worst-case scenario you can still make it work by house hacking.

I agree on the property management thought. Thanks for your input - It's great to get another perspective!