House Hacking Plan in 3 years

[Duy Xuan Do]

Hello everyone in BiggerPockets,

I have been listening to many episodes of the BiggerPockets on how to invest my money in the Real Estate world in the past 3 months. I have a plan and I'm not sure if I'm going to the right direction. Please correct me if anything I say about my plan is wrong and I'm willing to learn/listen to more advices here.

I'm currently living in PA will be paying off my house this year (only $20,000 left). My house worth $325,000 right now and my family is definitely moving to Dallas Texas in the next 3 years. My plan is to sell my current house which will give me around $300,000 and in the next 2 years me and my wife will save another $100,000 which come to the total of cash we have in hand is $400,000. When we get to Dallas, TX we want to buy a duplex of $450,000 with a %5 down payment (est. $40,000 including closing cost) under my wife and my name since we will be living in 1 unit and rent the other unit out. Then we want to buy another duplex with the same price and a 5% down payment under my mom's name since she will be living in 1 unit and rent the other unit out. After 2 Duplexes ($80,000), we left with $320,000 so we want to buy another 2 Duplexes (same price) with 25% down payment ($112,500/each) since we are not living there for long-term rental which left us with $95,000 left. We will put that $95,000 into the emergency fund and continue to save money until our next purchase. In conclusion we will have the total of 4 Duplexes in the first year when we move into Dallas, TX. Is this possible? Please let me know if my math and my plan are missing out some important laws/rules that I haven't heard of. I know I'm still pretty news to Real Estate world so this is just the plan for my family in the next 3 years, we definitely moving to TX.

Thank you everyone.

[Rob Lee]

Make sure you check out the area and the costs of the duplexes. I'm guessing that you wouldn't want to live where some of them are. They exist here but they are not as plenty for a single family homes. Once you check out ones you like in the areas you will live in then you can check your numbers for accuracy. Good luck! Rob

[Bruce Lynn]

@Duy Xuan Do   I like your plan.   Seems doable and realistic.  Everyone plans to continue working?

It's a little tough to know where pricing and interest rates will be in 3 years, but that's out of our control.  Overall I think it is a good gameplan.

One other option you might consider to scale faster perhaps is to buy the 1st two as owner occupied.  Wait a year and move and buy #3 and #4 as owner occupied, move a 3rd time in year 3 with #5 and #6 as owner occupied.   Conserve your cash.   Probably not as easy as that as you still need some income to support some of the properties perhaps, but something to consider.

It takes a special wife to be able to move often.  One of my mentors moved something like 25 times in 23 years, to build part of his empire.  All in the same little town, sometimes next door.  I can think of 4-5 houses he lived in on the same street within a block of each other.   Small pain for long term gain though.

[Duy Xuan Do]

Quote from @Rob Lee:

Make sure you check out the area and the costs of the duplexes. I'm guessing that you wouldn't want to live where some of them are. They exist here but they are not as plenty for a single family homes. Once you check out ones you like in the areas you will live in then you can check your numbers for accuracy. Good luck! Rob

 Hi Rob,

Thank you for the advice and I will look into the areas of where I want to live in.

[Duy Xuan Do]

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

@Duy Xuan Do   I like your plan.   Seems doable and realistic.  Everyone plans to continue working?

It's a little tough to know where pricing and interest rates will be in 3 years, but that's out of our control.  Overall I think it is a good gameplan.

One other option you might consider to scale faster perhaps is to buy the 1st two as owner occupied.  Wait a year and move and buy #3 and #4 as owner occupied, move a 3rd time in year 3 with #5 and #6 as owner occupied.   Conserve your cash.   Probably not as easy as that as you still need some income to support some of the properties perhaps, but something to consider.

It takes a special wife to be able to move often.  One of my mentors moved something like 25 times in 23 years, to build part of his empire.  All in the same little town, sometimes next door.  I can think of 4-5 houses he lived in on the same street within a block of each other.   Small pain for long term gain though.

 Hi Bruce,

Your option is awesome but I think we will only be able to move and buy 1 property as owner occupied per year since I don't want to move my mom too much. My wife is ok with changing to different properties each year, we already had the conversation and I'm just lucky to have the special wife to agree and do this with me. I also agree with you that the price and interest rate will be different in the next 3 years. We just hope for the best and I really appreciate your advice on this for me. It would change my life in the future.

Thank you Bruce.

[Eric DeNardo]

Hey @Duy Xuan Do,

Plan sounds solid! I recommend checking with an investor-friendly lender that you won't issues with obtaining a loan on your 3rd and 4th purchase because your DTI (debt-to-income) ratio may become too high.

[Duy Xuan Do]

Quote from @Eric DeNardo:

Hey @Duy Xuan Do,

Plan sounds solid! I recommend checking with an investor-friendly lender that you won't issues with obtaining a loan on your 3rd and 4th purchase because your DTI (debt-to-income) ratio may become too high.

Thank you so much Eric for the advice. I will definitely check with the lender for my DTI.