All Forum Posts by: Brittany DeWitt

@Nick C. We looked at both options.  We really considered moving out and renting from someone else, while putting a longer term tenant into the apartment.  In the end, we decided to take what we budgeted for rent and "pay ourselves" by putting that into the savings account with the rent and airbnb income.  We also are generating airbnb income, which is putting the income from that unit above what we would have gotten with a long term tenant.  But, as you point out, we're sacrificing some stability by doing that.  We're also doing more work and potentially putting more stress on the unit.  We liked the pros of being able to stay in the unit more than the cons of more work/stress. 

@Stephen Masek Yes, the university is really all that makes this work in an area like ours.  I think we would have a very hard time getting guests if we weren't in a college town.  So many parents come in to visit students who live in dorms/very small apartments and need a convenient place to stay.  Or people helping their kids move, checking the school out, events at the university.  We've actually had a much higher occupancy rate than I even expected.  

@Tim Alvarez Thanks!  I'm glad to hear that my story is encouraging.  So far, its been some extra work, but also a lot of fun having guests all the time and great income.  

We surprisingly have had a 50% occupancy rate (over 2 months...).  I think the reason that we're having bookings in Kansas is that we're less than a mile from a major university.  We've gotten a lot of people traveling for college visits and academic events (conferences, etc.).

We have had really good experience with working with Airbnb so far.  They charge a small percentage of every booking, rather than an up front fee to list, which is great.  Aside from a few customer service questions, I haven't needed to contact airbnb about much.

Thanks Shanequa!  I'll look into home away.  

Hey Joey!  My boyfriend and I bought a duplex at 24 as a first investment property.  It has been great as a tool to get started, and we're setting our goal for our next purchase as an owner occupied 4-plex.

I know that everyone has already said this, but the podcasts are an amazing tool for helping you to start learning.  I always feel motivated and excited after listening.  

Hey all!  My boyfriend and I bought our first investment property (an owner occupied duplex) about 2 years ago.  We spent a lot of money in the first two years bringing it up to date some and cleaning it up.  Now we're ready to start saving for property #2.

We were brainstorming ways to save up our down payment even faster and settled on AirBNB.  We had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a bonus room in a walk out basement that we rarely used.  They were all already furnished (as a bedroom, office, and living room), so we listed it as a suite on AirBNB.  

I spent about $600 on startup costs: two sets of sheets, blankets, towels, a nice single cup coffee pot, some other decorative touches, and keying the walk out basement door.  

This is our second month using airbnb.  The first month we made back the $600 in start up costs.  This month we're looking to bring in at least $850 (and still have 7 days free that could get booked!).

Every dollar counts, right?  So far I'm really excited at how successful it has been for us.  

Hey Rich,

My boyfriend and I used a VA loan about 2 years ago to buy a duplex. We're living in half and renting the other half. It was a great tool for us to get into investing, since we didn't have to make a down payment and had very little out of pocket costs.

We had a little trouble finding a good lender to make that deal happen. Several told us that you couldn't use VA loans that way, when they really meant that THEY wouldn't accept VA loans on multifamily properties. We eventually found a mortgage broker who was great and made it happen.

Also, pay attention to the fine print when you use the VA loan. I know there are some fees that can be exempted if you have a certain disability status, etc.

-Brittany

Hi Ben.  My boyfriend and I bought a duplex in Lawrence about a year ago.  We were both KU grad students at the time.  We're living in half the duplex and renting the other half.  Property values are pretty high in around here, and we didn't realize when we bought just how challenging it would be to find cash flowing properties here.  But we did it, and i'm sure with a little searching, you'll have no trouble either.

We worked with a great mortgage broker and title company, and if you're looking for some good suggestions, i'd be happy to pass those names along.  

Good luck!

I'd read about house hacking-

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/11/02/hack-housing-get-paid-live-free/

We bought a duplex and are living in half while renting the other half now.  I liked that we were jumping into investing by buying our first rental, but still reducing our expenses.  We now "pay" ourselves rent by setting money aside to invest in our next property, instead of paying our landlord.  There are a lot of options, and you can find details about each on the site.  This is just my personal favorite.

Good luck!

My BF and I bought our first rental using his VA loan. I'd recommend really educating yourself on the details of the VA loan. We were given a lot of bad info by banks who didn't work with VA loans.

-We were told we couldn't buy a duplex with a VA loan, which isn't true as long as you owner occupy.

-My BF has a disability from a deployment, which allowed us to skip paying the funding fee, but we had to tell the loan company that all the time, as the funding fee just kept "accidentally" reappearing.  

I think those were the two big problems we had. Check and double check everything you're told and the VA loan can be an amazing tool.

We have a student rental that we bought about a year ago and it has been a great experience.  We found a good deal by driving for dollars or basically driving around looking for houses for sale.  We found a for sale by owner that was a good deal and not advertised at all.  Its a duplex, and we live in half and rent half, which has been amazing.  Our renters cover 93% of our mortgage and when we move out, since the unit we live in is bigger and nicer (=higher rent), cash flow should be pretty good. 

We have 3 students living in the other unit, and each of them had a parent co-sign on their lease.  

We wrote about our experience in our blog (http://www.myrehabandrentals.com/?p=121) if you're interested in more info.

Student rentals = awesome investment!

@Johnathan Butler 

Yes, I would definitely recommend when you take advantage of the VA loan that you don't take your lender's word on anything without verifying for yourself. We never could have made this deal happen if we'd just trusted the bank when they told us that VA loans couldn't be used the way that we wanted to.

We've learned a lot through this process.  The first big lesson we learned, which I think is somewhat common on the first deal, is that all renovations cost more than you think they will.  We've done a lot of updates and upgrades ourselves over the last year.  We learned that it's pretty easy to over improve a rental property, especially since we've owner occupied half the duplex for the first year.  We've gotten in the habit of going to a showing for every other apartment on the street that comes up for rent or sale, just to try and keep our property in perspective.  We've collected all that data on the size and price of the other duplexes on the street, which is good to keep records of.  Finally, we're about to go through tenant turnover for the first time, so I expect to learn a lot from that process.

As far as exit strategy for this duplex, we're still evolving on whether we plan on keeping the property or selling it when I'm done with school.  We've already lived here a year, so we've decided to stay a second year in case we do sell when we move.  I believe that will give us the option of avoiding capital gains taxes on the side that we owner occupied.  Most duplexes in this area are sold as individual townhomes, so we plan to split the two properties and sell that way.  We have pretty good cash flow, though, so we can hold it after we move if we decide that is advantageous.