Seeking Advice: Moving from CT to GA — House Hacking and Long-Term Investment Goals

[Paul Meiners]

Hello everyone,

My fiancé, our three kids, and I are preparing to relocate from Connecticut to Georgia in a couple of months. We'll be staying temporarily — and rent-free — with a family friend who was recently widowed, giving us some time to get settled while we find a home.

Currently, we're tied up with our duplex in CT (FHA loan, both of us on the title). The plan is to list the property, use the proceeds to pay off about $37K in debt, and combine our savings and any profits to start fresh in Georgia. Once everything is finalized, we anticipate having around $70K to work with.

We'll initially be in the Macon area, but ultimately aim to move closer to the Dallas, GA area (willing to commute up to 2 hours from Dallas). We have some family there, which will help with the transition.

Our goals are:

House hack a few small multifamily properties

Purchase a primary residence afterward

Eventually buy a vacation/lake house to use personally and later retire in (potentially short-term rent it in the meantime)

I’ve never been to Georgia and am unfamiliar with the local market dynamics, especially around Atlanta and its surrounding areas. If anyone has advice about:

House hacking in/around Atlanta/Dallas, GA

Navigating a big move away from immediate family

Starting out in a new market with no prior local connections

Target neighborhoods or areas to avoid

I would sincerely appreciate it. Thank you for your time and any insights you can share!

Love the BiggerPockets community!

[Paul Meiners]

Quote from @Nicholas L.:

@Paul Meiners

sounds like you are planning on selling the CT property to pay off debt... but, any way to keep it?  would it work as a rental once you move out?

Great questions — and we’ve definitely gone back and forth on whether to hold onto the CT property or sell.

We currently own a duplex in Plainville, CT that we bought with an FHA loan. We recently refinanced in both of our names (both on the title and the new FHA loan), which unfortunately ties up our FHA eligibility moving forward since you typically can't have two FHA loans unless you meet very specific exceptions.

Our original plan was to hold the CT property and rent out both units, but we’ve got about $37K in debt we want to clear, and selling it would leave us with around $70K in cash — which we’ll need both to house hack again and to have enough emergency reserves for a safe and stable relocation with our 3 kids. So as much as we’d love to keep it, the equity is more valuable to us right now as a launchpad.

If we didn’t need the debt payoff or the liquidity cushion, it could absolutely work as a full rental. It already cash flows with the top unit rented, and rents have gone up since we bought. But realistically, we need a clean financial slate and access to capital to make this move to GA smooth and sustainable.

Appreciate the thought-provoking question — it’s one we’ve wrestled with quite a bit!