Moving for new job post grad in May, first house hack

[Will Bazile]

Hi Everyone, I am excited to be a part of the Bigger Pockets community. I came to know of bigger pockets about 2-3 weeks ago and have been listening and educating myself on RE and FI. It has been an eye-opening experience, and I plan to continue to learn a lot in the years to come. I have been looking through the forum and have not found anyone in a similar situation so I thought I would make a post to see if I can get some advice/tips/knowledge from experts or find people in similar situations.

I am currently a senior in college and will be graduating in May. I have a job already lined up after I graduate that will pay $82,000/year. The job requires me to move, but it is still in the same state I live in (driving distance from home to the new city is about 2.5 hours, housing market is also considerably cheaper than in my home city). By the time I graduate, I will have a little over $27,000 in student debt (All federal, only debt that I have) and $20k in savings, credit score low 740s. My original plan (pre-knowledge of bigger pockets and fi) was to find a decent place to rent and save to pay the debt off in the first year of post-graduation (similar to the teachings of Dave Ramsey). After listening and reading to BP and other sources, I have decided to start my journey in RE/FI, I want to house hack and live/buy property (most likely a duplex) in the new city as I plan on working here for at least the next 5 ish years (my position is a program and will require me to be there at least for 4 years).

I have read and listened to a lot of advice about buying property and some of the decisions and thoughts one should have before making the decision. Although I am really excited and it's like a feasible plan to me, I wanted to get the opinions of people in the forum of what they think would make the most sense given my situation, and if you do recommend buying property, any advice around loan or buying. I have a general idea of what I would like to do but I would love to hear opinions.

[Jim K.]

Quote from @Will Bazile:

Hi Everyone, I am excited to be a part of the Bigger Pockets community. I came to know of bigger pockets about 2-3 weeks ago and have been listening and educating myself on RE and FI. It has been an eye-opening experience, and I plan to continue to learn a lot in the years to come. I have been looking through the forum and have not found anyone in a similar situation so I thought I would make a post to see if I can get some advice/tips/knowledge from experts or find people in similar situations.

I am currently a senior in college and will be graduating in May. I have a job already lined up after I graduate that will pay $82,000/year. The job requires me to move, but it is still in the same state I live in (driving distance from home to the new city is about 2.5 hours, housing market is also considerably cheaper than in my home city). By the time I graduate, I will have a little over $27,000 in student debt (All federal, only debt that I have) and $20k in savings, credit score low 740s. My original plan (pre-knowledge of bigger pockets and fi) was to find a decent place to rent and save to pay the debt off in the first year of post-graduation (similar to the teachings of Dave Ramsey). After listening and reading to BP and other sources, I have decided to start my journey in RE/FI, I want to house hack and live/buy property (most likely a duplex) in the new city as I plan on working here for at least the next 5 ish years (my position is a program and will require me to be there at least for 4 years).

I have read and listened to a lot of advice about buying property and some of the decisions and thoughts one should have before making the decision. Although I am really excited and it's like a feasible plan to me, I wanted to get the opinions of people in the forum of what they think would make the most sense given my situation, and if you do recommend buying property, any advice around loan or buying. I have a general idea of what I would like to do but I would love to hear opinions.

Let me preface this by asking you to read my profile and by also stating that I live in half of a duplex that I paid $45K for a few years ago. I consider this the best money I have ever spent.

My first thought is that you've got a good plan, but only a limited amount of time to prepare. You don't lose much if, instead of implementing this plan this June/July/August, you opt instead to rent a cheap apartment for a year as near to your new job as possible, preferably walking or biking distance. Here's what you gain by doing that:

This will give you a year to check out the local real estate scene of this new city and learn some of the hyperlocal information you're going to need to make a good choice for your target location. You will also have additional time to learn a lot more about real estate and househacking. Don't just trust the BP forums for your education. Often, you get a much fuller and nuanced picture by reading books on the subject. Two you might want to look at are @Scott Trench's Set for Life and Craig Curelop's The House Hacking Strategy.

Granted, you may only be in this new city for four new years. But you'll know a lot more about that after a year in an apartment. You may quite simply hate your new job. It happens all the time.

After your first year is over, put your stuff in storage and move to a long-stay motel where you pay by the week or the month. Get all your banking information and qualification for a mortgage ready. When you find the place you want, strike. Worry less about finding a great deal than finding a place that doesn't need a lot of work (renovation is always a veteran specialist's niche in this field), is reasonably close to your work, and is purpose-built as a duplex. You don't want to be dealing with a messy conversion of a big old house (very common in Massachusetts), or the complexities of learning how to deal with multiple tenants in a triplex or quadplex.

Again, don't worry about making big bucks on this deal. Your first deal should ideally always be more of a single or even a bunt than a homerun. Even if it's an unmitigated disaster, you will find at least a dozen people on this website that turned a terrible first deal into a successful real estate career. This is one big learning opportunity, and the stresses you're going to be dealing with outside the househack with the still-new job and probably whatever will be happening in your personal life may be quite significant. I'd be conservative here.

Good luck, Will. Don't be a stranger here in the forums.