My first House Hack, when I didn't know what house hacking was

[Lyle Fugate]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment in Baltimore.

Purchase price: $264,000
Cash invested: $20,000

We are currently house hacking as we fix the house up enough to refinance and move into our next house hack.

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

We had not started really diving into real estate investing at the time. I knew we wanted to rent a room out to help with the mortgage and we wanted to hold as a rental long term.

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

We found through the MLS. In hindsight our agent was subpar and there was definitely room to negotiate and we just were not advised correctly knowing what I know now.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan with 5% down. I had access as a teacher to a special credit union product.

How did you add value to the deal?

We are in the midst of updating bathrooms and the kitchen appliances. Canton is also experiencing growth as a Neighborhood.

What was the outcome?

Reduce housing expense while not sacrificing very much luxury wise.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Definitely learned that due diligence is important when seeking a real estate agent and to research the numbers for prospective rents. I also wish I had known that small multi family would have been a far better house hack to start it in.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes the title company, Lakeside Title, was very friendly and helpful. I would stay away from using Tower Federal Credit Union because they made an accounting error that ended up pushing the closing by a month. This accounting error also cost me money and almost the home.