first house hack

[Robby Sanchez]

Hey everyone. Kind of a long post. 

I have a master plan that ends with me becoming a general partner in multi family deals and eventually becoming financially free. I will use my knowledge in the home inspection field, owning and operating my home inspection business, the relationships i will make during that time, my experience in being a landlord and my knowledge as an licensed electrician and home inspector to help convince my investors that i am serious and have the skin in the game to get deals done. But right now, i currently own a SF in KY and am house hacking a duplex in round rock Texas. This Duplex was built in the 80s and has good bones but the HVAC systems will need to be replaced soon and there has been no major updates that have been done but this is one of the reasons why i bought it. i wanted to get the experience of being a landlord and renovating  and managing multiple properties. but i have a few questions pertaining to the duplex house hack. I'll tell you guys what my plan is and you let me know what you think. My plan is to invest quite a but into this duplex during my stay. (plan on staying here for a couple years and then moving into my own home). At the end of the two years i hope to have most of the renovations done. I don't plan on doing a whole bunch of renovations but i do plan on updating the kitchens and re-insulating the attics and updating lighting and painting the inside. now for my questions...

-should i just bite the bullet and pay for the new HVAC systems? i really want to leave this duplex in a solid position when i move out and rent it. i realize that things WIILL break but i just want to make sure the big ticket items are taken care of.

-should i use savings to pay for the HVAC if i do end up getting new systems? I have the option of pulling out a HELOC from my home in KY that could cover the amount for both HVAC systems. and if i do that i could most likely use the cash flow from when i move out to make the payments on the HELOC. (not counting on it but just brainstorming)

-or should i focus on remodeling everything else except the HVAC? 

-should i aim to sell the duplex? or keep it? I kinda want to keep it so i can use the equity to scale up. 

Thanks for your input everyone and i look forward to hearing your thoughts. 

[Robin Simon]

Real Estate is definitely not just a "numbers analysis" and you are definitely thinking about things the right way - but I think a good next step for you would be to spend some time putting a lot of this stuff into a (very) basic financial model/spreadsheets mapping out all the potential costs and estimates on effect (effect on value, on exit, different scenarios) - I think getting started with that framework should help with these decisions immensely