I am looking to house hack in the next 6 months. Next steps?

[Ben Einspahr]

Key Points:

• -Network
• -Education
• -Find an Investor-Friendly Agent
• -Find an Investor-Friendly Lender

Hello BP Community! A common forum post I often read is, "I am looking to house hack. Any advice?" With this being such a common question, I wanted to provide my two cents.

Assumptions:

• You already know the market you are looking to invest in.
• You have at least $15k in savings. If you don't, this will be addressed in a separate post.

Step 1: Networking

Get out there and network! There has not been one networking event that I have attended where I did not walk away with another amazing person to add to my network or a new tip/piece of information I was not aware of. When I first started out, my mentor Chris Lopez told me that networking is one of the most undervalued pieces of real estate investing. To this day, I still strongly agree with that!

Action: A great place to start is the events section under the learn tab.

Step 2: Education

This one goes without saying. Podcasts, books, masterminds, etc. Start learning about what you want instead of asking someone else what they would do. That's like asking someone what the best car is. It depends!

Action: Read "Set For Life" by Scott Trench. This was my rich dad book of real estate, finance, and personal development.

Step 3: Investor-Friendly Real Estate Agent

Find yourself an investor-friendly agent and start building a relationship, even if you are 6-12 months out. When I say "investor-friendly agent," I mean someone who has a track record of closing deals that you are interested in. Another bonus is if they are actively house hacking themselves or doing some form of RE investing. This is not a time to help out your best friend or brother's wife who just got their license.

Action: BP forums are a great place to start! Ask for recommendations in your area and interview 2-3 of them!

Step 4: Investor-Friendly Lender

A lender and agent are the Tier 1 of your investing team. Find yourself a good agent, and they will bring you a good lender. Connect with the lender, let them know your investing plan, and get an idea of what your buying power looks like. This will help you define your buy box and start analyzing deals.

Action: Same as Step 3. BP forums are a great place to start! Ask for recommendations in your area and interview 2-3 of them!

If I missed anything, please chime in. I would love to hear everyone's feedback and comments.

If you would like other education resources or referrals, let me know!

[Julien Jeannot]

My advice is to not overthink it and jump into it. If I had listened to all the advice out there I would have never bought my first househack duplex. It was on the MLS, I "overpaid" for it, and it did not meet any of the %s rules, my lender and broker were not investor friendly and I did just about everything else "wrong."

Fast forward 5 years, I gained 50% in equity (forced equity & appreciation), 2x the cash flow.

Fast forward 7 years, 2x equity, cash flows $700/unit.

I unlocked the equity in a HELOC and BRRRRed.