House Hacking in the Philly or Pittsburgh Area

[Niall Clancey]

Hey All, 

I am looking into house hacking in the Philly or Pittsburgh area and wanted to see if I could ask for some help for anyone who has done this in the past. 

I recently left Boston and moved back in with my parents because the city was becoming way to expensive. Over the last few years I have been able to save a little over $50K to put down on my first home. Part of the reason why I'm interested in house hacking is because I'm really tired of paying money on rent. I am open to the idea of purchasing a duplex or triplex. I just purchased the House Hacking book by Craig Cruelop to learn more about the process. I'm also taking a CAM course on the side to learn more about all the logistics of managing properties and being a landlord. 

I'm very new to this whole thing and would love to hear your advice! What neighborhoods should I look at? What do you think my buying power will be? What did you do when you did your first house hack in Pitt or Philly? What kind of expenses did you incur? What did you learn from this process that I should know before getting started? 

Thanks! 

[Jeremy Taggart]

@Niall Clancey here in Pittsburgh $50k is plenty to get into basically any 2-4 unit with 3.5% down. Once you go above about $150k/unit here is where the numbers start to not make sense. I've house hacked 6 times now and my advice for your first one would be to max out the FHA loan with as high of a purchase price you can get while still meeting the self sufficiency test. This will ensure you will be at least break even on the cash flow side, and the higher purchase price will increase your overall ROI thru more principal paydown/appreciation with the higher price compared to something cheaper. Also look to get the 6% sellers assist to cover all of your closing costs so you only have to bring 3.5% down. I would shoot for a 3-4 unit since duplexes are getting tougher nowadays with the higher rates and prices. You could also consider an FHA 203k loan if a property makes sense for it. If you can find a fixer that'll give you a better chance at cash flow once it's all said and done, and likely be able to get some equity as well.