All Forum Posts by: Austin Wolff

Getting started and house-hacking in the most unaffordable housing market in US history is very tough indeed. I lived in Los Angeles -- arguably harder to cashflow than Boston, so I feel your pain. From my perspective you have three options:

1. Be patient and save more for a year, 

2. Look to invest out-of-state in more affordable markets, 

3. Or move to a more affordable (but growing) market. 

It's just the reality we live in right now.

 Can't be stated enough. For most people, growing your income (and bank account) is the ultimate "hack" to generating wealth -- you can't invest what you don't have. 

I was living in Los Angeles, CA, so I feel your pain. I've written a few articles here that should help in your decision:

The 10 Best Markets for Your First House Hack

13 Real Estate Hot Spots You Won’t Want to Miss Next Year

I'm personally putting my money where my mouth is and moving to Fayetteville, AR where I will be house-hacking my first property--something that could only be a dream in Los Angeles. Hope this helps.

Building a new SFH (and then holding it as a rental) appears to be a better option than buying an existing SFH. If you build (via managing a general contractor), you should (ideally) know more about how the property was built than if you bought an existing home--you know what's behind the walls, and ideally you might avoid anything wrong with buying an existing home with issues you and your inspector didn't catch.

I understand there's risk to building--it just seems right now that the risk is lower than buying an existing house--a house where you simply cannot know every detail without tearing it down to the studs and doing a complete remodel. If you bought an existing home and it had a massive problem your inspector didn't catch, your deal could go under.

Am I wrong to think about it this way?

Hi, I'm the Market Intelligence Analyst here at BiggerPockets--so analyzing markets is all I do. Also, I live in Los Angeles, so investing out-of-state was my only option when I began my analysis. While you may not be considering moving to a market and house-hacking, I think this BiggerPockets article still offers great data for out-of-state buy-and-hold investors.

Key takeaways: Fayetteville, AR and Indianapolis, IN may be good places for you to start if you're new. Not included in the article (but in an upcoming one I'm drafting right now) is Columbus, OH like others have stated. These 3 metros have prices cheaper than the national average, healthy rent-to-price ratios, and growing economies--solid market fundamentals. 

I recommend hopping on Redfin, Zillow, or the BiggerPockets Deal Finder right away to start looking at what's available in your price point. Hope this helps.

Hi, I'm the Market Intelligence Analyst here at BiggerPockets--so analyzing markets is all I do. While you may not be considering moving to a market and house-hacking, I think this BiggerPockets article still offers great data for out-of-state buy-and-hold investors.

Key takeaways: Fayetteville, AR and Indianapolis, IN may be good places for you to start if you're new. Not included in the article (but in an upcoming one I'm drafting right now) is Columbus, OH like others have stated. These 3 metros have prices cheaper than the national average, healthy rent-to-price ratios, and growing economies--solid market fundamentals. 

I recommend hopping on Redfin, Zillow, or the BiggerPockets Deal Finder right away to start looking at what's available in your price point. Hope this helps.

 Couldn't agree more. 25 bps is my best educated guess.

This is absolutely incredible. I've been very curious about using this technology to help design and potentially stage AirBnB properties. My ability to picture and design something pleasing to the eye is lacking--a tool like this would be helpful, especially for ideation of what "could be." Thank you for sharing!

Great job amassing that portfolio! It seems to be a great cash-producing asset. 

Like others have stated above, I'm less bullish on Detroit in the short-term (5-10 years) due to the historically slow appreciation which increases Capex risk.

But I'm more bullish on Detroit's population growth in the long-term (10-30 years) due to its climate change resilience, affordability, and (as you've stated) the growing number of companies moving into the area.

Here are a few quick graphs I whipped up for anyone curious about the Detroit MSA. Below is 5-year job growth, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Next is 5-year median price growth, sourced from Zillow:

And here is 5-year median rent growth, also sourced from Zillow:

Detroit's job growth is still far below the national average. Personally I'd invest in other affordable-but-growing markets in the Midwest, which are currently seeing greater price appreciation and job growth than Detroit, while still having decent cashflow potential.

But the Detroit MSA had its first population increase in decades this year, indicating Detroit has "bottomed out," and will only continue to grow from here on out. Either way, I think your "economies of scale" strategy will help offset your future Capex risk. Bravo on the portfolio!

The Census ACS 5-year survey ought to help! You'll have to do some digging on their website to find what you need.