Interested in house hacking

[Kristine O.]

Hello pros.  Im a new pro member and I need some advice in order to start to be a real estate investor.  I bought a 2 bed 2.5 bath townhouse in 2018 when I was still single and now that I have a growing family with my partner and babies we have been watching bigger pockets vlogs and it inspired us to try to live out of our comfort zone.  I have a job that is enough to cover our mortgage and basics but we want to try house hacking or even short term rental.  The challenges to that right now is that there are limited multi family units in a decent location that ranges from 750-950k. We dont have 5% downpayment. We have not even applied for preapproval yet but we’re just brainstorming.  We’re thinking of selling this townhome to use the equity for a downpayment to move into a bigger home with adu or multifamily unit.  We are just unsure if now is the right time for that.  We are grateful just to get some ideas from the pros especially those pros in the local area. 

[Ryan Thomson]

@Kristine O. great idea to keep getting educated and pursue house hacking. It is a fantastic way to build wealth. 

You need to talk to a lender and see what you can qualify for.

You need to talk to a realtor and see what you could sell your house for.

Without those two pieces of information, you are wasting your time. You need to know that this is an option for you in LA before you get ahead of yourself. 

If the answers to the two big questions above are favorable (you can qualify for enough, you can sell the townhome for enough for a downpayment), then it certainly may make sense to pursue house hacking.