All Forum Posts by: Andrew Powers

I'm an auto engineer yes. Came out here for the job. Engineering salary here is very high relative to house prices. When I started out, I would have made the same income here vs where I'm from (MA), but house prices in and around Boston are 2-4x many Metro Detroit towns. 

High wages relative to housing prices and rent rates makes SE Michigan a good place to look for REI in my opinion. There's more to consider of course than just that, and it depends on your goals.

Let me know if you want to talk further!

What towns are you looking in and property type?

Congrats on the new house! Luckily the midwest is very low cost compared to the rest of the country. And interest rates are extremely low so it's a great time to buy. As you can see in the forums and in the market, house buying is more and more competitive.

What are your goals and REI strategy?

Kamil, you are in a great position being a software engineer. The southeast Michigan / Detroit area is a software and engineering hub... the big 3 are hiring thousands of software engineers currently for electric cars. You are in demand. Not only are the big 3 here, but also suppliers to them and supporting industries. And new car companies like Rivian, Lordship motors are here because they positioned themselves to be close by (economies of scale).

The local economy here is different than 2008. Now there's more diversification with mortgage, medical, hospital, etc industries.

I house hack in metro Detroit which is not the city. It's the suburbs. It has low prices, great returns, and a large rental population. 

https://media.gm.com/media/us/...

I put an open house date in the ad. If someone is seriously interested they will make time to come, or they'll message to say they can't make it but want to see it on a different date. 

Feel free to reach out anytime!

Congrats! What type of tenants are targeting and how are you searching for candidates?

I rent by room and use same process as a normal rental. I use Cozy to vet candidates and manage tenants. Vetting thru cozy is simple as the candidate pays $40 thru the website, personal info is protected, and I see results report. 

I make it clear in the FB/ craigslist ad that I do background, credit, reference checks to ensure their safety/harmony along with the other roommates'... to help them see the value in spending the $40 to apply
 

Congrats on the house hack! What has you biggest challenge been so far in terms of roommates? I have a room rental house hack as well, just curious your perspective

@Jordan Voitus the BP calculators are a good place to start as well. There's youtubes on how to use it.

@Joe Mack I suggest to do at least one house hack... aka have a home base where you live for free and then go from there. If you happen to build your credit up as time goes on, then consider the options you describe above.

To get your first house hack with the limited credit available... I suggest to first talk to a few lenders. You may be surprised and able to get a loan or not far off as-is. If not, they can guide you how to build credit enough to get a loan through them. Either way it's good to start networking with lenders.

Or you can try to get creative with financing... i.e. seller financing, private money, etc. 

Just keep learning and writing down options / paths you are considering to be prepared when opportunity arises.