All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hello! I am currently looking to purchase my first property that I am going to House hack. Today I looked at a property that has a major foundation issue. The house is on the market $299,900, The foundation is stone and collapsing inwards, it would need a full demo. My girlfriends father is a contractor who said it would cost anywhere from $250-$350 per square foot. It is currently a single family home, but I called the town's zoning and planning office and it's an approved two family zone so we could build a duplex. I obviously have never built a home (let a lone even purchase) and I'm curious if this is something that seems realistic to achieve. Is that an expensive price per square foot? Does anyone have experience with this? My goal is too at-least offset my living costs with my house hack and I will be splitting my monthly expenses with my girlfriend. Does this seem like something worth pursuing? 

Quote from @Dan Guenther:

Hey @Account Closed - it can be super intimidating at the beginning especially before you have that first deal under your belt. Learning how to use the house hacking calculator you mentioned is going to be a great start. After you analyze 100+ deals in your market you will eventually be able to run the numbers in your head! 

Reach out and we can walk through a few practice deals together. 

Dan, 
Thanks so much for the motivation! Repetition will definitely help big time! I will definitely reach out to run through some deals! Thanks again! 

Quote from @Donna Galanti:

HI Jimmy, have you been able to connect with a house-hacking friendly/experienced real estate agent who could help you find an ideal property (or at least have them review properties for you) or been able to attend any REI seminars on this? I am connected to an agent in the Philly area who has house hacked and attended his seminars. He also recommends utilizing a 203K Loan Consultant for navigating a house hacking deal. Not sure if you're interested in this. I'm actually in the process of starting this investigation myself for the right house hack property. Keep us posted on your progress here and wishing you all the best with it!

 I found two on through bigger pockets! I definitely plan on reaching out! I actually just looked into the CTREIA but I can't make any of the seminars during the week, so hopefully in the future they have something on the weekend! Will definitely keep you updated! Thanks for the advice! Good luck to you as well!

Hello!

I am currently in the process of learning how to analyze potential deals for house hacking (while looking to purchase my first house hack ever). I purchased Craig Curelops book The House Hacking Strategy and it did come with a house hacking calculator! One of my biggest fears when it comes to real estate investing is analyzing properties correctly. I know the importance of doing good math when it comes to real estate investing and I have never been good at math and I just want to make sure that I can do this on my own eventually and do it right. 

Just putting this out there to see if anyone else has also struggled with this and any tips they have on getting better at house analyzations. Thanks in advance! 

Hello! 

I am currently in the learning phase of REI, but I see a and hear a lot of the time that most people never actually get started in real estate investing!

I know how important it is to build a great team, and one of those team members is a great real estate agent. I want to work with an agent that has experience dealing with real estate investors, but obviously I am still learning and I'd have a lot of questions for them before I decided I definitely want to work with them. 

Of course I do not want to waste anyones time, but I know it's important to start taking action. My question is, is it ok to reach out to different real estate agents, tell them what you are looking for and how they can help you before making a final decision who you are going to work with? I definitely don't want to waste anyones time so if any real estate agents see this i'd love to hear your opinion! Thank you!

Quote from @Jon Kelly:

I'm shocked to see several comments recommending the Dave Ramsey approach... I thought this was a real estate investing forum? 

I'm not going to comment on the amount of student debt vs. current salary because you can't change the past. Your focus is on the future and how to improve. 

The two most common strategies to start are house-hacking and BRRRR. I would recommend either or both.

The biggest thing is to start now. I completely disagree with waiting until paying off your debt. Paying off $230k debt with $60k salary will take 5-10 years at best... You'll be in a much better situation if you start REI now.

Don't even think about buying a property with your girlfriend. It's not "cute" or proving that you're "in love." It's irresponsible and completely unnecessary. Keep everything separate until you're married. If you want to invest together you can create an agreement and keep track of your personal contributions.

Thanks for the reply! Definitely extremely helpful and motivating. I think buying the separate properties is the way to go! I think she’ll purchase the house we will live in (with her money) and house hack, while i’ll invest my money strictly in a rental property to hopefully make more passive income to pay towards my loans since I wouldn’t live there. I’m currently reading brandon turners book on rental properties and going to read over the BRRRR method again! Thanks for the positive feedback.

Quote from @Brett Deas:

Well it won't happen overnight but I'm sure you understand that. I think there are really two routes to go here, 1)trying to offset your living expenses as much as possible to use that money towards paying off your loans or 2)trying to buy rentals that pay the loans for you without offsetting lifestyle expenses. Personally I would try and offset my living expenses as much as possible to pay down the loans because it is less risky, and when you move out ideally that place will cashflow thus helping you pay off more of those loans. 

As far as buying the place with you girlfriend, I would not. I don't know you two at all or really much of anything about your lives, but numbers wise if you can both buy a house then you can get double the value. And if you are both going to house hack and then buy another primary together later you can have two rentals instead of just one. The power of scale is the reason why. 

 Thanks so much for the insight! I definitely know it won't happen overnight. I definitely have some lifestyle expenses I could cut back on...Thanks Brett!

Hello! 

I am potting this out there to see if anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice! 

I am 26 and I have a mountain of student loan debt (230,000 ) Yikes! I currently live at home, and have been learning all about real estate investing and currently saving up to purchase and house hack my first property. I make around 55-60k with my current job. I have two main questions. My why is that I want to use real estate investing to earn passive income and use that to pay off my student loans over time so I was curious as to which strategy someone recommends based on my scenario! Also, my girlfriend and I are going back and forth on if we should each buy our own properties first or if we should go in our first one together. Just putting this out there to see if anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice, thanks in advance! 

Hello! This is my first post here on the forums. I live in Fairfield County Connecticut and i’m looking to house hack my first property!  I am currently in the learning and saving part of my house hacking journey. I had a question that hopefully some of you can help me with! 

1.  When it comes to utilities, let’s say I put on the tenant to pay. Am I responsible for paying my own? (internet,garbage, water etc.) and if so, do I account that in my personal expenses when analyzing properties? 

Thanks in advance! 

Great write up! I’m in the learning and saving process of House Hacking. The one question I had though is when it comes to saving 6 months of personal living expenses, and 6 months of the mortgage, how do you determine what those numbers are if you haven’t gotten a property yet and don’t know the exact numbers?