Decent Areas for House Hacking a Duplex in the South

[Fabio Cattolico]

Hi everybody,

I'm new to real estate investing and I would love to house hack a duplex somewhere south if possible. My fiancée and I are from San Antontio and currently live in NYC. Im trying to get an idea of any kind of market in a slightly warmer region of the country that I should look into for househacking a duplex. Very open to various states including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Arizona, The Carolinas, Tennesee etc. I want to look into cities where I can find duplexes in decent areas for 400k max. I'd love to hear any kinds of recommendations and if you know amazing areas anywhere else that is not the south, I'd be happy to look into them as well. Thanks a lot!

[Villy Ellinger]

@Fabio Cattolico I would suggest you look into Panama City Beach, Florida. There are quite a few duplex-type homes there. Not all areas actually have those. PCB does. The market is currently experiencing a slow down in STR/ investment returns and prices have dropped. That might make it a good time to get in on duplexes. I've actually gone out there (I live and work near Destin, but sell in PCB too) to look at some for myself as investments. If you have house-hack and live in one part and rent out the other (ether as long-term or vacation rental) that will bet you better interest rates and possibly no cap gains tax if you sell it later as primary residence.

For whatever reason people seem to ignore the rule of "buy low and sell high" and keep chasing the "most popular area" to invest in. That happened in PCB in 2021-22. Now that its slower the same people are selling off and chasing the next best area. I'm thinking they might be going in reverse :-)