House Hack in Frankling Park Austin, TX

[Madison Sobol]

Hi, my partner and I are moving back to Texas and found (what we think to be) a great duplex investment in Franklin Park. The street is full of run down houses, lots of cars, and the shops around are run down too, that said I personally feel think the area has a lot of room to grow given how close it is to downtown. We haven't been in the market in a while and are stuck on whether to move forward. Do others in Austin feel the same way? 

Would you invest in Franklin Park?

[Jordan Moorhead]

@David Sandvig you don't get two exclude 100% of profit when you sell a duplex since you only lived in 50% of it. I found out because I tried to do this myself.

The homestead exclusion is cool but don't let the tax tail wag the dog when investing. Obviously you need to take taxes into account but invest to get the best returns and figure out how you can also get the best tax treatment on those returns.

Staying 24 months in a duplex to exclude 50% of the profit isn't the best in my opinion unless your goals are to just make a short term profit. A better wealth generating strategy would be to buy 2 duplexes in 2 years and hold them, only sell if you had found a good replacement property and then you could utilize the 1031 exchange.

@Madison Sobol I agree with @Joe Scaparra and think anything in Austin will do well long term. We've sold a few to househackers in Franklin Park/78744. Austin is the fastest growing metro in the country in the fastest growing state in the country. That area is reasonably priced right now which in my experience means it'll get bought up relatively quick because it's more afforable.