Deal Analysis, First time buyer, House Hacking old Triplex

[Harry M. Winters]

Hey all,

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me know if I should post this in a different forum.

I'm a first time home buyer in California trying to buy something that will allow me to house hack and have a positive CoC return. This is the first property I've seen in my area in months where that looks remotely possible.

The details:

Asking price:

• 535k (pretty firm I think but maybe could go as low as 515k).

Units:

• 3 Bedroom SFH
• 2 x 1 Bedrooms/Studios
• An adjacent lot where I could park my van or build a tiny home.

Income:

• Hard to say but I think I could get 2k for the 3 bedrooms and 1k for each of the studios for a total of 4k.

Financing:

    Traditional 3-5% down mortgage first time home buyers with an interest rate of about 2.5%.

The weird:

• This place is pretty old. The buildings have been grandfathered in but don't meet the current code. Seller claims there's a letter on file with the county but I would verify.
• As I said, OLD. There's been some work done on it and my agent (who used to represent the seller but currently does not) claims that it's rentable as-is. Any tips on common things to watch out for here? I'd probably have 10k for CapEx after closing but a 30k+ expense in the first 18 months would be really rough.
• It's currently in unincorporated county land but I understand the city plans to annex it in the next couple of years. This brings sewer which is nice and some slightly higher taxes but I don't really know what this means.

I know it's on me to evaluate the rentability of the property but any tips about older homes (70+ years) or city annexation would be greatly appreciated.

All the best and thanks again,

Harry