All Forum Posts by: Carl Davis

When we have tenants that want to get out of an lease we give them the option of being flexible and helping us find a new tenant to replace them so there is no vacancy.

If your landlord is flexible this might be an option. Our main concern is just having qualified tenants with as little vacancy as possible. If you help them do that, they may be willing to work with you.

Hey Amanda,

I’m an agent here in Utah and It definitely benefits me for what I like to do.

Since I mainly focus on house hacking and help others house hack it makes it easier to acquire my properties for less down with the commission piece.

But helping other individuals residentially is much different than being an investor. I believe that is a whole different skill set so if you’re thinking you’ll make easy money doing that I would probably not expect to initially.

But just like others have mentioned, since utah is a non disclosure state, its nice to be able to run my own comps as well.

Logan! You already know I agree with you.

After house hacking 3 previous times here in Utah, I’m a firm believer in the strategy.

Just like you said, I can decrease my expenses while still being able to pursue other forms of real estate investing.

I tell my clients to look for ways to add value to their house hack and be creative.

The property I purchased last year would not have cash flows at the time but by adding more value to it, we’re going to be able to cash flow around 500/mo after all expenses.

In another example a client of mine just purchased his second in two years as well. In the deal this year he’s going to convert his garage to a living space in a single family home that already has a mother in law apartment. Being able to see creative investors thrive in markets like this really solidifies to me that house hacking and investing in general favors those who try and apply themselves in different ways.

Although it’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme, I use it to diversify my income, grow my portfolio, learn more about property management, and grow as an investor.

I don’t think house hacking here is dead at all, I just think people have to be willing to do what others won’t so they can reap the benefits others can’t.

The Utah REIA has meetups every first Thursday of the month down in Sandy. Several other smaller ones as well.

Hey Kurtis!

I live in Ogden currently and have two rentals between Ogden and south Ogden. I’m an active investor agent in the area. I’ll dm you to see if working together would make sense at all.

Glad to help!

With the units being so small it doesn’t seem like you can as much value besides raising rents to market value.

The benefit of this is you’ll be able to decrease your expenses. It’s really just taking a bet to see if rents will go up enough in the time you’re living there. 

Only you can really make the decision if you want to risk that.

Hey Steve!

There’s some things that I do when I house hacks that determine if I want to buy or not, here’s my thought process:

1. Is it in a good area where people want to live. If you have this in place it’s a lot easier for me to have confidence moving forward through this list.

2. how can I make this a better deal for me? In this market I’m advising my clients that are house hacking to look at loan products that have them putting the least amount of cash down, and exerting the rest of their allocated funds to rate buydowns. Whether temporary or permanent. Your loan officer should be able to give you options but understand the differences between permanent and temporary ones. Seller can also contribute to this a bit as well depending on your product.

3. Can I add any value? Do the 1b/1b units have enough space to add a bedroom? If so if you added a bedroom in all 3 sounds like you’d have your cash flow right there.

4. Can I rent more creatively to increase cash flow? I know STR's are banned in SLC but still know people do them. Do what you would like at your own risk, MTR could be worth looking into as well.

5. Do I feel comfortable doing what’s most profitable? Go look at the Units and see if you wouldn’t mind living in one of the 1/1 units or if you could make it work. If you can AND you can do a combination of the other things on this list, you could potentially be cash flowing while living there.

When analyzing house hacks in this area I always think first if it’s in a good area and if so, HOW do I make this a good deal for me with as little effort as possible. I believe if you can do this when time goes on you’ll be cash flowing a lot more than you anticipate.

Hey Steven!

Some really good information here. I will try and dissect this the way I would look at this decision but ultimately I think it comes down to your goals and lifestyle.

As someone who has house hacked in the area now 3 times here is what I would do:

Keep looking at house hacks. If you are really here for more than a year It is already worth it just because of how much less you'll be paying monthly right off the bat. 

One of my clients closed in March on a house hack in West Jordan. Their mortgage is around 2700/month, they rent their upstairs unit for a little over 2000/mo and then rented out the second bedroom in their space on crash pad for 600/month. Not only are they saving a ton of money, they are able to put more improvements in the property to help increase rents when they leave. Obviously it is not fun to have roommates but living like this for a year or so and completely eliminating your housing expense could put you ahead for awhile.

The multi-family option is a bit of a stretch on paper in Salt Lake County but I am a strong believer of SFH w/ the ADU or MIL apartment. They are valued less than multi family currently in the area but there have been proposals to the FHA to use ADU income to qualify buyers. There is some other legislation to support this as well but I think these types of properties in Utah will be valued more similarly to its multi-family counter-parts in the new future.

If the lifestyle factor is too hard for you to get over in some instances you can look at new builds that are being built with ADU's as well. I am currently building one in Eagle Mountain and I know of one other builder doing them in Davis County as well. I know this option is becoming a bit more popular with builders so maybe just look around.

Even in a case where you buy a house hack now and are paying what you pay currently in rent I would still think it is a good deal since you have the ability to own property within the Wasatch front. A place we know has very limited land space and increasing jobs being created and people looking to move here.

Remember we are looking at today's numbers as well, if in the future you can even make 200/mo in cashflow to me it is still worth it because of the nature of this market and location. If you don't believe in Utah, however consider looking into other markets or areas that will cash flow more. Just my thoughts.

 Welcome Johnathan!

like Logan said, cash flow is difficult to come by in Utah if you’re buying from a strictly investment perspective. I always recommend house hacking for new investors in high appreciation markets where you can get the best of both worlds (save more money and have a rental for future use). 

It's something I've done a few times in the area and the only way I've been consistently made my rentals cash flow.

If you find another agent in the area that will get you a better return with STR in the area I would like to connect with them too. Everything I have seen says it won't pencil out in this area.

I have been debating whether I should change one of mine into a mid term rental as well.