House Hack in a New Construction Duplex

[Rodolfo Santin]

Hello to the community, 

I have been looking for creative ways to take the next step. I bought a fixer-upper in Troy MI in 2020 for 240k, it took me around 1.5 years and 55k to finish the project while living in the house and a full-time W2. The current value of the house is around 340K, therefore at the moment, I am sitting on 100k equity (plus the loan payment of the past years). Also, I have been renting out one of the rooms for the entire past year and things are going well. 

I want to keep house-hacking ideally but now with duplex, triplex, or fourplex in Troy MI or around the Detroit suburbs. I have not located anything that works for me in the market and at the same time I see the evolution of costruction going towards modular costruction. To me that makes a lot of sense and it is very interesting as everything seems to be up to code and more efficient.

My current thought process leads me to buy the land and work with a construction company what is in the field of modular construction and duplex. 

The problem is I don't know where to start. I am about to get as many calls as possible to construction companies and try to figure this out and then I think it would be better look for available land and start from there, and then another thought comes to mind. 

The goal is to cashflow in a year or two when the 2 units become completly invesment properties. 

The other challenge is that I have 100k in equity sitting on my current house and I don't know how to acces it in a smart way without selling the property.

I would love to know if there is any RE investor or agent in Michigan that is in a same path or has done something simliar.

Thanks all!

[Michael Smythe]

@Rodolfo Santin Troy is a Class A market, which makes it difficult to cashflow. Typically takes 3-5 years.

Class B markets cashflow better, but you have to be real careful as some won't support new construction costs.

Obviously, Class C and D are even worse for new construction.

Another challenge will be finding land that is zoned, or can easily be rezoned, for 2-4 family new construction. 

Highly recommend you go over your costs on the house you just redid, adding in labor for others in place of yourself. You'll probably find the numbers will lead to a lot less than the $100k in equity you have now.