All Forum Posts by: Jake Craig

@James Wilcox - It certainly was a lot harder to find than we thought. Was much easier as a house hack as you might expect.. But we finally found someone and are in the process of writing a lease currently! Sorry I didn't see your comment initially.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $410,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Partnered with my brother on this house while I was still living in Kentucky. This is a 3 bedroom ranch with an in-law suite in the finished basement (1 bedroom + office space) that has a separate entrance. My brother was living in the in-law suite and we had been renting out the upstairs until recently. Those renters moved downstairs into the in-law suite and we are figuring out what to do with the upstairs currently.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My brother wanted a house to house-hack and this seemed perfect

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS

How did you finance this deal?

We put 3.5% down since he would be living there. We just used money saved from W2.

What was the outcome?

Still figuring out if this was a good deal. Initially we were able to rent out the upstairs unit for $2,500 which allowed my brother to only pay $400 per month for rent. He since moved out and the upstairs tenants moved downstairs to pay $1,400 in rent freeing up the upstairs. We are now having a bit of a hard time renting it given it is a shared house with the shared laundry room in the lower level.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $155,000
Cash invested: $8,000

Bought this and lived in it with my girlfriend for 9 months so I was able to put 3.5% down since I was planning to live there. Mortgage is $1,250 and currently renting it for $1,600. Took out a wall and replaced some bad carpet to make it more attractive to renters.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Wanted to secure a property in Cincinnati market before moving out of state to take advantage of growth potential I saw in the area.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Straight MLS - no negotiation required

How did you finance this deal?

3.5% down since I was living there. Used funds I saved.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I have to replace the roof by next April. I submitted a wind claim to try and have my insurance company replace it for cheap but was denied and when I switched over to a Landlord Policy, the new insurance company (Travelers) inspected it and are forcing me to replace or else they will drop coverage. So, don't put claims in on something that may or may not get replaced if you know you are switching carriers in near term

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Kari Goetz is my realtor in NKY. She is amazing.

@Reid Chauvin thank you for your response. In your opinion, do you think it changes anything given the fact that the loan we needed to use to qualify for the house was a FHA, which requires one of us to live there? Or do you think it would still make sense for him to pay some rent to me considering he would be paying to live somewhere if we had not bought a house.

My brother and I recently bought a house in South Nashville and have been trying to determine the best way to handle the share of rent collection. He lives in Nashville and has for about a year, and I live out of state. The house we bought is a single family with an in-law suite in the basement with a full kitchen/bath/living area. We just had long term renters move in to the upstairs and their rent payments cover all but $450 of the mortgage. Our initial idea was that he would essentially pay me half of the market rate for the space he is occupying in the basement, which would allow me to cash flow about $200 per month and he would be left with a payment of about $650 per month out of pocket. We are second guessing if that makes sense, as it seems as though he is paying me rent, which he doesn't like the sound of, and I completely understand. But at the same time, I have my own mortgage to pay for and it seems a bit unfair that we would essentially split his living expenses if he did not pay me  for occupying space in the house. We are very cordial about the situation and just want to have the rent collection make sense in the end of the day without anyone getting screwed over. We are looking for unbiased opinions that will help us come to a logical conclusion.