All Forum Posts by: Anthony Swain

Hey @Jimmy Jarjour

It sounds like you are crushing the education game. Their books and podcasts are loaded with great material.

House hacking can be beneficial for soooo many reasons as many in here would chime in with.

If you're already looking to connect with a rockstar agent and loan officer/lender, then you're going to be on the right track. Networking will give you some people to lean on for questions and to fill in the other blanks i.e. contractors, insurance agents, inspectors, property management, etc. 

I'd definitely agree with @Rick Albert. I am not necessarily scared of the age, but more so weary of the cap ex age and building materials. For example, brick homes can last hundreds of years if taken care of compared to some new stick built development homes. A 1920s home with new plumbing, updated electric, and a new furnace might be in a better position than something from the 1990s. That 1990-2000s home might be reaching the last leg of all it's cap ex items.

Lastly, in HCOL cities, house hacking may give you the opportunity to live in an area to enhance your quality of life. For example, maybe a house hack where you are offsetting your housing expense allows you to live in the heart of three key quality of life factors (Where you work, where you leisure, and where you shop). This is compared to if you bought a standard residence 1-2 hours from where you do those three things. I know for many in the Bay Area this has become pretty standard unfortunately.

Good luck with your HH endeavors. I'm happy to connect to provide any helpful insight.

-Ant

@Mose Gebremeskel I'm glad I can give some encouragement. Good luck with it!

Let us know how things go

Hey @Zach Wellinghoff,

My wife and I purchased a duplex with a conventional owner occupied loan. I think we had 60 days from closing to move into our unit. We made sure to close with at least one unit vacant to allow us to renovate and move in seamlessly. 

You do inherit the new tenants. You must honor their lease agreements as others mentioned. You can offer them cash or different terms to vacate if you wish, but they don't need to oblige. In our situation, we asked the other tenants if they would like to end their lease early. They actually wanted to leave early, because they needed a larger house with another newborn on the way. Sometimes it can be mutually beneficial, but I'd tread carefully with expecting tenants to leave. 

Regardless of situation you should be aware of all lease terms of current tenants, security deposits, tenant contact info, pets, rental rates, etc. 

I hope things work out for you Zach. Let us know how it turns out.

Hey @Ryan Orr!

If your plan is to rent to college students, then I think it can be wise to have in your contracts co-signed by a parent/legal guardian. This can help mitigate potential damages down the road. 

Does Springfield have a lot of Graduate Programs? Any other local industries with short term employment?

Maybe you could furnish the other unit of duplex and rent as a MTR or STR. Obviously, this would require some market research on your end, but possibly a more profitable investment opportunity.

I'm currently house hacking and I would be happy to share any insight that could help.

-Ant

Very saavy for you to stay in the studio and rent out the larger portion.

RentRedi should get the job done for tenant screening. I'd just outline a clear cut criteria to make your decision making standard. Stick to it, because the worst stories I've heard were landlords that went against their criteria. 

Create a separate bank account for property from the very beginning and find a way to track your income/expenses. This will help you determine the profitability of your investment. 

Good luck with it!

Awesome! Are you going to rent by room your house hack side and other rental side?

In a C class area, maybe check other comparable properties to see what amenities they have and which properties are getting highest rental rates. If you're offering amenities and similar quality/or better then you should be able to receive many candidates to choose from. 

Hey @Leslie Cunningham

Fellow house hacker and former travel nurse here. 

I'd say your best strategy would be for a furnished rental either listing on Furnished Finder, Airbnb 30+ day stays, VRBO, or some of the other listing sites. 

Most travel nurses are looking for a safe place convenient to the hospital they will be working at. Many are not looking to rent a shared room from my experience. I think this strategy can still work if you have an ADU or maybe a separate living area with private entrance.

I think a competitive price for travel nurses would range between $1600-2k per month. Travel nurses wages have gone down significantly, while still having to pay duplicate living expenses (primary residence and travel residence). Most travel nurses are on a budget. Sometimes you'll find a travel nurse with a travel companion or two coming together, so you can rent a property for more. However, they will most certainly want a private space. 

There really isn't anyway to contact hospitals or travel agencies to get direct housing, because I would say 99% of travel nurses take the per diem stipends and do not take company provided housing. 

I hope this insight helps. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

-Ant

Hey @Summer Shelton,

Fellow house hacker here!

A four plex is definitely a great opportunity to house hack, especially if you're doing it with a significant other or partner (sounds like you might be?). 

I agree with some others in this thread that the loan amount doesn't seem like it would work for the FHA limits. As others have mentioned, a 5% conventional might be an option, but with that loan amount there might be limits too. My wife and I used the 5% conventional for a duplex last December, but it was well under a million.

Also, $1.9 million sounds like a very large number off the cuff without having seen the property/location. Do you plan on doing STRs or is this a brand new luxury 4-Plex where you may be able to get high LTR rents?

Just quick math with 5% down your loan amount would be around $1.8 million and depending on interest rate, $11.5k to $12k monthly mortgage. Without considering insurance, taxes, maintenance, vacancy, or cap-ex you would need to rent the units for ~$3k/month to break even. My recommendation would be to do a deep dive into your deal analysis and see if the numbers truly make sense. 

Good luck Summer! Please keep us posted on how things go. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to chat more about house hacking or STRs.

-Ant 

Hey @Gerardell Brown,

These are two great strategies you're combining. You will be house hacking and benefiting from your primary loans. These methods will allow you to use leverage for a large asset, reduce living expenses, gain appreciation, and benefit from loan amortization. 

If the house hack is drastically reducing your living expenses and you like your living situation, then you don't necessarily need to be in rush to turn it into a rental. Also, I'd make sure your investments pencil out to still cashflow even if you took yourself out of the equation. This will give you more options to rinse and repeat house hack formula, stay put, or move/continue to rent out. 

Good luck with your investing journey!

-Ant

@Jake Hughes CONGRATS MAN! 

You took a big first step! I'm sure you've learned a lot already and will learn even more from this first deal. 

Are you house hacking? Do you have any particular strategies in mind?

I am happy to connect and share my experience.

Good luck with everything!

-Ant