All Forum Posts by: Ben Anderson

Yeah, by "gas stove" I mean a free-standing stove. 

I've been using the Farenheat portable electric baseboard heaters, but I think it is a bit too much for the current breakers. As I can't run much on the same breaker as one of them

I'm a little unsure of my long term plans. I'm definitely going to live in it for the next year. Plan A is to rent out both units and find another value add house hack with a reasonable commute. However if the market skyrockets I could see myself staying an additional year and selling to avoid capital gains. I don't really see any scenario where I am living in the property longer than that.

Hello, I am finishing some a remodel on a 1911 home with an ADU in the Seattle area.

The home was previously heated by two gas stoves with very little ducting. As part of converting the upstairs unit to a 2 bedroom, I had to remove the upstairs stove. The upstairs (~1000 sq ft) is heated by 3 electric baseboard heaters and has been at a pleasant temperature at all times of day.

The plan for the downstairs ADU (also ~1000 sq ft) was to do a combination of baseboard heaters and the existing system, however the existing system is not working and my contractor says was not installed properly. I have been living downstairs with 2 baseboard heaters, and the mornings are rather chilly, but the temperatures are already fine. I'm considering several options for heat and would like to hear some other opinions:

Option 1: Remove old system downstairs, add a third baseboard heater downstairs ~$100

Option 2: Install new gas stove downstairs, fix chimney, use existing ducting, possibly use no baseboard heaters ~$3500

Option 3: Install a ductless mini split system for upstairs and downstairs ~ $7500

It's fairly typical for homes in my area to not have AC so the mini split system would be a good selling point. I am a little concerned about the costs of running a bunch of electric baseboard heaters (I'm house hacking right now and plan on splitting utilities with the tenant for the 1-2 years I live here). I understand that long term it will be the tenant's responsibility, but I imagine it will impact what I can charge/tenant's inclination to stay.

Thanks @Michael Haas, I'll reach out with a few questions for sure!

Hi @Dave Skow, I locked in a few weeks ago at 5% down with a 3.75% interest rate with all my closing costs covered. I'll see if it's possible to get a better deal, but I'm pretty happy as things stand.

Hi everyone, I'm new to BP and real estate and decided to try and find a house hack type of situation to reduce my fixed expenses and have a way of generating non market based returns on some of my money.

I'm currently under contract on a single family home for 675k in Phinney Ridge. It already has a permitted 2 bed/1 bath ADU on the ground floor. The first floor is currently a large 1 bed 1 bath, that I plan on converting into a 2 bed 1 bath.

I plan on doing some kitchen renovations to both units and installing new floors in the ground floor.

Long term the property is big enough to support a DADU and given the recent changes to the laws surrounding them in Seattle, I am very excited about the prospect of building a DADU for additional income and eventually renting out all 3 units.

I'm not looking to have a ton of properties, but I like the idea of taking advantage of owner occupied financing and making the place I live work for me. In the medium term I want the freedom to pursue music/circus at a high level while doing some amount of freelance software engineering (I'm currently a full time software engineer for a big company) on the side.