All Forum Posts by: Jon Hill

Hi guys,

My wife and I are currently house hacking and live for free in our townhome. We have 5 tenants and live in a basement at the time that was unfinished. We have since finished it while living here thanks for the income from the tenants. The property should pay us about $800 after expense when we move out which we are very excited for.

My question is on the logistics post move out for some small things. We plan to leave all the common area furniture along with cutlery. We do have a monthly house cleaner that comes in and cleans the common areas. I am wondering what do to about things like hand towels, soap etc for the house? Do I continue to supply them or is it now all on the tenants to figure it out? I know it is a small thing  but curious to get your guys thoughts!

Thanks

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $360,000
Cash invested: $35,000

Our first intention house hack. We lived in an unfinished basement the first 4 months while we saved money we would have been paying to rent/mortgage to finish it. Did some of the work ourselves. Plan to move out and it should net us close to $800 when we do

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

Lower cost of living while adding a property

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

Was on the MLS and got stereotyped as a bad property because the agent messed up the lock box and the property didn't sell in one weekend

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Finished the basement

What was the outcome?

Rented out all the rooms for: Master $1000, Bedroom 1 $705 which included one garage spot, Bedroom 2 $675, and basement will rent for $1100 when we move out

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Renting a 12x10 bedroom that shares a bathroom can be a little tough

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

Yes, myself

Hi everyone,

My wife and I own a townhome in Thornton, CO which is just north of Denver. We bought it back in 2017 and have close to $100k in equity. The property does bring in a little under $400 a month after the mortgage. We are trying to weigh are options to sell it and use that to buy multiple properties out of state or hold on to it and let it ride. It is renting a little below market, but the lease is until next May. We can sell under the end of 2022 with no capital gains. The area is near a new light rail so we would guess it will continue to go up. It is not the nicest but shows signs of turning around.

If you say to sell would you mind saying where you would then invest the money? We own a duplex in Milwaukee but are open others.

Appreciate your help!

Last year's goals

Mine are the following:

1. Read 52 books. I attempted this goal last year and really enjoyed it. I got to 30 which I was actually very happy with. It forced me to develop a skill and I learned a lot about different things in the process. I am half a book away from completing this one. I learned a lot of different things with this one and it forced me to create the time for it. I don't think I will do it again as I felt rushed at times through the books, but still a lot of fun.

2. Purchase 2 more rental properties. I set the goal for last year to purchase one and was able to achieve this through a partnership. I want to use the stack method now and continue to grow my portfolio. I did not accomplish this one. It ties into goal 4 but I allowed the external world to effect my mindset too much. Should have gotten it done, but learned a lot about the importance of mindset.

3. Run a marathon. I was able to run my first half last year, which was a big accomplish as I had never ran before. I signed up for a marathon, but did not train the way I need to so I did not attempted after receiving some advice that I could really injury myself. Very much looking forward to achieving this one. I completed this one on October 31st. I can't express how hard this actually was. It become more about if I was going to allow myself to accomplish it. I had been working towards this for more than 2 years and felt that there would be a major void if I completed it.

4. Double my sales as an agent. This is similar to the stack method on the portfolio. I know that if I continue to increase my sales that it will allow me to other things like expand my portfolio. Again, like I said on 2 I allowed my mindset to be affected and listened to all the reasons why I couldn't be successful. Still a solid year for me, but did not achieve what I set out to complete.

5. Have at least one date a week with my fiance. We are in the early stages of wedding planning along with her starting a new career so we have every excuses as why to not make this happen. That is why this one is the most important to me. I must carve out time every week for her and make it my most important thing I do! We did this all but a couple of weeks which I was happy with. We were able to get married and still had an amazing wedding. It changed some because of the world, but I can happily say I am married to the woman of my dreams.

I think I learned a lot of each of these and maybe even more from the ones I did not get done. I recently read the 12 Week Year so how I goal set has shifted, but excited for my next set of goals to be completed. 

In the next 90 days I will:

1. run a sub 21 minute 5k

2. completed the 75 hard 

3. pay off one of our cars

4. serve 8+ families in real estate

We purchased a townhome right after college using a FHA loan. It was a pre-foreclosure and were able to buy it for $150k. It appraised for $165k at the time. We put about $10k of work into it. We house hacked it out for a year with us and another roommate. Then we moved out and turned into a long-term rental that cashflows a little over $300 a month.

@Joe Matthews I would say make sure you know your numbers and what you want to get is more important than timing the market. Plenty of people said we were due for a correction with a historic bear market, but no one knew that it would be in March due to a pandemic and that in certain markets this would actually drive prices up. I am in Denver and due to a massive lack of inventory price have continued to rise. I understand that we still could have a correction in 2021 and 2022 but hindsight is always 20/20

I really believe it comes done to knowing the numbers that work for you and analyzing deals with that in mind and then taking action when you find a property that fits. I hope that helps. Best of luck within your journey

Hi everyone,

We currently own a town home in northern Denver that we are trying to decided what to do with. We are cash flowing roughly $120 a month from it. It has appreciated a solid $50k-$60k since we bought it back in 2017. We bought it at a great price. The area it is in is probably a C class neighborhood. There is a new light rail that should be opening up soon that would take you straight downtown so there is potential for the area to continue to improve depending on that timeline. We are looking to purchase a new house hack roughly 30 minutes north of Denver. We should be able to find a property that works regardless of the sell that we qualify to purchase. It will decrease some of our buying power, but that may force us to find a better deal which we can really speak to the power of buying right with the increase in the other property. The reason we are thinking about selling it is to use the profit to purchase another property out of state that has a better return. We know we may not be able to get the appreciate over the long term and are okay with that since cash flow is our focus until we are financially free. We could under take a bigger project on the house hack using a part of the funds from the sell and then use the rest to purchase out of state. We currently own a duplex in Wisconsin that gives us better cash flow and would most likely be looking there for the next one.

Would love to hear everyone's advice and thoughts!

Here are the goals I posted at the beginning of the year.

1. Read 52 books. I am actually ahead of this goal right now. I am 30+ on the books currently. This one has been an awesome journey and has changed a lot of my thinking. I know think if there is something I don't know and wanted to learn to just find the right book for this. I can't wait to see what other fun things I learn from this.

2. Purchase 2 more rental properties. This goal has fallen aside some. No excuses here, I know I just have not prioritized it. I have taken more the approach that this will come to me which will not get it done. Need to refocus on this and put in weekly effort to making this goal happen.

3. Run a marathon. This has been pretty good up until the last week. I had a vacation I took and did not run during it. My training plan had a little cushion built in in case something like this happened, but still making solid progress. If anyone didn't know this accomplish this is hard because of the time and physical toll the long runs take on you.

4. Double my sales as an agent. I had a slow start to the year, but stayed focus on the process of this one and it has really started to pay of. I am going to be at my sales mark for last year by mid to end of August which means I need to keep the pace up and this will happen.

5. Have at least one date a week with my fiance. I could list a ton of excuses for this one, my fiance started a new job which changed her schedule, my business has picked up, and plenty of others but it all comes down to us prioritizing this time. We actually had a talk last week about how we have fallen off and need to bring this one back to the top of the list.

I honestly feel really good with where all of these are. I know I have plenty to improve upon, but I can say with less than 6 months to go I know each of these is still absolutely achievable which is a big step up from last year.

How is everyone else doing with theirs? Any common struggles? Did you goals change?

@Anthony Gayden that is amazing! I think all too often people will look for excuses on why not to get started. Not everyone's first couple of deals may turn out with as much profit, but the knowledge they gain from it is priceless. Your ability to find a way and take action is why you were able to net that. Congrats sir! Best of luck in the next deal!