Seeking Insights: First-Time House Hacking Experience and Beginner Tips

[Ryan Cullen]

Hey there Bigger Pockets,

I'm excited to dive into the world of house hacking and explore the potential it offers for financial growth and investment. As a newbie in this field, I'm reaching out to this fantastic community to seek your valuable experiences and gather some tips and tricks to kickstart my journey successfully.

If you have embarked on a house hacking adventure yourself, I would greatly appreciate it if you could spare a moment to share your firsthand experience. Some questions I have in mind are:

1. 1. How did you get started with house hacking? What motivated you to pursue this strategy?
2. 2. What type of property did you choose for your house hacking venture (e.g., single-family, multi-family, etc.)?
3. 3. How did you finance the property? Did you encounter any challenges during the process?
4. 4. How did you find your tenants or roommates? Any specific strategies or platforms that worked well for you?
5. 5. What were the key lessons you learned from your first house hacking experience?
6. 6. Were there any unexpected hurdles or surprises that you encountered? If so, how did you handle them?

Of course, any additional insights, tips, and tricks you can offer to a beginner like me would be incredibly valuable. Whether it's advice on property selection, financing options, property management, or legal considerations, I'm all ears!

Thank you so much for your time and willingness to share. I eagerly look forward to reading your stories and advice!

Warm regards,

Ryan Cullen

[Alan Asriants]

Hey Ryan! House hacking is an awesome way to get started in Real Estate!

Its a great way to kill 2 birds with one stone. At the end of the day, you need a place to live, and if you want to invest in RE, this takes care of both

1. House hacking has an easy barrier to entry as you only need 3.5% down on a multi family

2. Go for multi family if you can in your area (my recommendation). Sharing the same fridge and living with roommates is very different that you living in your own unit. Also multi family will appreciate better over time. 

3. FHA! No challenges if you have good credit, decent income, and no crazy debt

4. Zillow, facebook groups, apartments.com, avail.co, turbotenant, etc. Plenty of ways to find tenants

5. You learn how important of a responsibility it is to own a home. This is bigger than you, literally! But the best part about screwing up and learning, is that you don't have to go to far. Everything is in your backyard

6. 

6.1 Your property and its location is the most important part of the investment, your tenant an extremely close second - choose wisely 

6.2 Renovating your property isn't just about getting more rent, it is about getting higher quality applicants too

6.3 LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. You can't move the house. Where it is located is the most important part of all of this 

Best of lcuk!