All Forum Posts by: Brian Sardinskas

Hey @Cole Koeppen,

Some really good responses so far from @Anthony Swain, @Aaron Duthie, and @Rick Albert. I will also give you my two cents from a fellow house hacker. 

In my opinion, I wouldn't buy a property if I couldn't move out in a year and at least cover the mortgage payments with the rents from both units. From your numbers, it does not look like you will be able too. You also mentioned that both units are renovated which means it may be hard to force any appreciation or rent growth. 

Now, If this property is the ideal place for you and you think you will live in the property for 5-8+ years. I think this can still make sense. My only worry is that you are banking on appreciation and rent growth to move out, which is not guaranteed to come. 

I am not familiar with the Dallas market, is this a good deal for that market? Have you found properties that had better cash flow? Are you willing to do some light renovations yourself, or would you want to property to be turn key?

Hey @Nathaniel Linn,

Congrats on taking your first step into real estate! As far as first steps, I would personally recommend house hacking. If you are not familiar, this is where you buy a 2-4 family house, live in one unit, and then rent out the other units to help cover your mortgage. This can also be done with a single family house, where you live in the house and rent out the empty bedrooms. 

A couple of the Pro's to House Hacking:

1.) You can put as little as 3.5% down for your down payment.

2.) You will be in very close proximity to your other units which allows you to resolve issues easier than if you were a couple towns away.

3.) You can live for free!

Good luck on your investing journey, feel free to reach out if you want to talk more about house hacking/investing. This is how I started investing and is what I would recommend to most people starting out.

Hey @Rebeca Enriquez,

Congrats on starting you investing journey! You ask a lot of great questions in your post! I will try and answer them to the best I can, but I will confess, I do not know the answer to all of them.

First off, you are on the right track! I would suggest to first reach out and talk to a couple Investor focused real estate agents in your market. You should be able to use bigger pockets "Find an Agent" tool. Once you talk to a few agents they should be able to help point you in the right direction for financing. Most Realtors have banks/lenders they work closely with, so they should be able to make an introduction, or at least suggest some of the best lenders to use in your area. I am not in the Dallas market, so I cannot help you with any recommendations.

Now, I am unsure if not being a US citizen will effect your ability to get approved for a mortgage. This is something you will need to call mortgage lenders and ask. Hopefully someone else can chime in and help answer that question. 

Let me know if you have any other questions, I will try and help the best I can!

@Beth Anderson, 

You can use a FHA 203k loan to wrap renovations into the loan. I used this loan to buy my house hack and redo the roof. Also, you only have to put down 3.5% of the purchase price + renovation costs. For example, if the house is $100k and the renovations are $10k, your down payment would be 3.5% of $110k (plus closing fees of course). The FHA 203k loan is a great option!

As far as logistics go, once you go under contract for the house, you will have a contractor estimate the work for you. Then, once you close on the property, the bank pays the contractor half up front and then the other half once the work is done and inspected. If you have any other questions or need clarifications, don’t hesitate to reach out!

**Please confirm this information with your lender, I used this loan a couple years ago, I am not sure if things have changed**

Hey @Devon Moore,

Awesome to hear! I am an Investor/Realtor in the Manchester NH area. Candor Realty/Simplified Real Estate holds a few monthly real estate investing meetups in the area, suck as Merrimack NH, Portsmouth NH, and Lowell MA. 

Here is some more information: https://www.facebook.com/simplifiedREImeetup/

Good luck!

Hey @Adam Subervi Jr,

Fantastic to hear! I would focus on researching the Manchester Market, building a team (ie. start be finding a investor focused realtor), and start to tour houses as soon as possible. The sooner you start, the sooner you will feel more comfortable with the idea of investing in a property. 

I am a realtor in the Manchester Market, and would love to connect to see if there is anything I can help you with.

Good Luck on your journey!

@Beth Anderson For my house hack, I had a fairly low tolerance for risk, so I made sure that even if I did not have renters, I could pay the mortgage. This allowed me to feel comfortable buying the house and not having to worry about rushing tenants into the property. I would continue to look at other houses in your price point and try and build up your cash reserves. The more reserves you have, the more risk you can take on.

Good Luck! 

Hey @Cameron Woodward, 

@Sarah Brown touched on it above, but using your network of friends and family is a great way to find tenants. I especially like this when you will be sharing common areas with your tenants. I find it comforting to live with someone that was referred by a friend or family member, rather than someone you find off Facebook marketplace or Zillow. That being said, I have house hacked with 'strangers' before and it went great. So do not be afraid of using all available avenues to find tenants. 

One additional tip, when I house hacked, I was very naive and assumed that everyone lived very similar to me (ie. wakes up early, goes to bed early, likes a clean space etc.). Remember that this is not always the case, so you want to try and get an idea of their daily routine to make sure it aligns with what you are looking for. 

Hope this helps!