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All Forum Posts by: Brian Sardinskas

Brian Sardinskas has started 0 posts and replied 18 times.

Post: First Time House Hacker - Separate bank account for rent collection?

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

@Priti Gupta,

I own my house hack in my personal name and still have separate bank accounts and credit cards for it. In my opinion, I believe it’s best to separate your rental income, even if it’s owned in your personal name.

Post: Looking for guidance on buying my first property

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Huzaifa Ahmad,

These are some great questions! I agree with the other responses so far and will had some info where I can.

I am not too familiar with the DC market, but from my understanding there are plenty of high paying jobs there to support rents. As far as how to find a property that has a basement apartment or a property that you can convert a basement into an apartment… this may be somewhat difficult. I am not aware of any efficient way to filter through properties other than looking at all of the properties in your desired location, and checking to see if it has a basement apartment. Have you thought of a duplex instead? This is a property that has 2 units and you could live in one and rent out the other unit.

Regarding rental income and cash flow. You will need to figure out what your monthly payment will be for the property (mortgage, insurance, taxes). Then you will need to figure out how much the unit you are renting will rent for. You can go on Zillow and look at what apartments are renting for in the neighborhoods you are looking to buy. Then you can do the math and see your cash flow. Most likely with a basement apartment or duplex it will not cash flow, but you should be able to subsidize your mortgage payment substantially.

I would continue working with your lender and focus on finding an investor focused agent in the area you are buying. They should be able to help you with the ins and outs of the market and general investing questions. Your way to do this is the “featured agent” tool on bigger pockets to find an agent.

Ps. Make sure you talk with the town/realtor about a basement apartment. These may or may not be legal some places, or there may be strict guidelines you need to follow. I’ve never felt with that type of unit so I would just be cautious and maybe try and connect with someone that has down it already. This will ensure you have the best chance of success.


Hope this helps!


Post: Home Ownership Rate Actually Increasing...?

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Jake Andronico,

This is some interesting stats, and although I have no data or charts to back it up, ill give my two cents on the topic. I think for a lot of people, owning a home transcends whether it is "affordable" or not. Owning a home is a life goal, regardless if it financially makes sense. For that reason, I still see home ownership rising for the foreseeable future. 

Interested to see what other people think about this.

Post: Best approach to house hacking

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Whitney Patterson,

These are some great questions! It sounds like you already have a property you own and are thinking of converting it into a house hack, this is an awesome idea! As far as moving out to maximize cash flow, I would first focus on your property that you are in now. From your post it sounds like you haven’t rented the property yet, I would first start to rent out the other half of your property. This will give a better idea for the demand for the property and will give you a better idea of how much cash flow to expect. At that point, I would start to look for another property, just make sure you have enough reserves (usually 3-6 months) before you buy another investment property!

Let me know if this helps or if you have any other questions! Good Luck!

Post: Tenant Search for 2 fam in JC

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Irene Kee,

Congrats on the investment property!

I personally rent out my own units. I use Zillow and Facebook market place to advertise and find tenants. I was able to get plenty of applicants using these methods.
Then I use apartments.com to set up direct deposit. This has worked great so far for me! 

Hope this helps!

Post: ideas on remolding for a house hack property

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Manuel Jurado,

I agree with @Dave Kush. Vinyl plank is what I use for my living spaces and it can be used for bathrooms. You can get “Life Proof” vinyl at home depot which advertises that it’s water proof and scratch resistant. If you have room in your budget though, I would definitely go with tile in the bathroom. This will be much more durable and stand up to water a lot better than vinyl.

Post: Tips for assessing a new market!

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

@Kyle Curtin,

Great information! I never knew that there was a public master plan for each city. This is a golden nugget! Thank you for sharing!

Post: What Real Estate Markets Should I Invest In As A First Time Investor?

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Ryan Holtz,

Great question! What type of properties are you looking to buy? ie. single family, small multi-family, large multifamily? Also, are you interested in buying something that is turnkey, or willing to do renovations to the property? What have you been doing to find properties so far?

It is no secret that with interest rates at 7-8% that it can be challenging to find properties that cash flow. In my market, you typically need to force appreciation and rent growth through renovations to cash flow. Without knowing more I can't answer very thoroughly, but what i'll say is that not every market is good for cash flowing. You will make your money in other ways though... usually through appreciation and debt pay down. If you are looking strictly for cash flow, you can usually find these in *cheaper* markets or "C class" markets.

If you are at all interested in investing out-of-state, I do not do this myself, but if you look into "investwithace" on Instagram, he has a lot of content talking about how to do so. I am also sure there are some other people on BP that can help with more out-of-state investing.

This is all VERY GENERAL information and will vary depending on where you live. If you can answer some of my questions above, I may be able to help further.

Post: Are my reserves too high for a house hack deal?

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Benjamin Sulka,

I think these numbers depends on a couple factors, such as your market, property type, and overall goals.

10% for future property management: If your goals are to get your properties under management as quick as possible, then it would be worth it to keep this the same. In my opinion, if you are going to be living in the same area as your rentals, I would not even factor property management in right now. Down the line if you start to have too many properties to self manage, increased rents/lower interest rates may allow you more room to do so. Also, there are a lot of great softwares out there that basically take care of what property managers do, so you could look into that instead.

10% vacancy: In my market, 5% vacancy is plenty, this is something that you will need to figure out for your particular market. A google search or talking with investors in your area would be best.

10% cap ex: I think 5-10% here is okay. It depends also the condition and age of the property. The older and broken down the building is, the more you want to put away.

5% for repairs: Again, this will depend on the property condition, but I also reserve 5% for repairs because I have an old house.

5% for lawn: If you plan to live in the area, I would just buy a used lawn mower for $100 and do it yourself. BUT, this is personal preference, if you are trying to make this a passive investment and don’t want to be cutting the lawn, then 5% is probably fine.

Hopefully this helps! Good luck!

Post: House Hacking without actually living there

Brian SardinskasPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • New Hampshire
  • Posts 18
  • Votes 18

Hey @Zane M.,

Congrats on starting your investing journey! I am currently doing a house hack and know a little bit about what you are asking. Unfortunately, as you probably have found out, the rules and regulations are not necessarily clear on owner occupancy. First though, I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.

In my opinion, what you are describing is illegal and I always would suggest to stay away of skirting any laws/rules. If you are caught you can be convicted of mortgage fraud.

 I'm fairly certain that there is an expectation that you move into the property within 30-90 days after closing.  That being said, I have heard many stories where people have gotten out of this for various reasons. The way people skirt around these owner occupied laws is because when they close on the property, their "intention" is to live there. Although, if something were to come up where you couldn't live there for some reason (ie. new job or in your case, taking care of family members) you may be able to get around it. In addition, I did not move into my property right away due to renovations, I told the lender this, and he did not seem to care at all. This was for about 2 months though, not the whole year. 

It may be worth talking with a lender about your question. If your primary address is set up to your property and you sleep there once a month, that may be enough to count as "owner occupied".

Hopefully this helps a little bit, I am sure there is a lender on BP that can give you a more accurate answer. Always feel free to reach out with any other questions as you get started!

Good luck!