All Forum Posts by: Joseph Harr

I also can't make the numbers work in my area. I can house hack once and subsidize my living expenses. That's great and all but when I leave, that property would definitely not cash flow. It could work with STR but my area is cracking down on those. Also technically the rent by the room strategy here wouldn't work either because only 3 (or 4 in the next town over) unrelated adults are allowed to live in a single family dwelling. That's probably not enforced very much but I wouldn't feel great about risking it so I can't just buy a 5 or 6 bedroom house and rent all the rooms. As far as the value add strategies like converting a basement (rare in this area), attic, garage, etc., I don't know if the town would even permit that and they don't return calls or emails. I'm trying to find my next house hack but for now it's been a one and done strategy for me but I'll keep looking anyway.

 Ok great, thank you for that explanation. 

I buy a house maybe once every two years so I posted to see what other people have been paying. This estimate was more than I remember paying for closing costs. 

Also the bigger pockets glossary says they're usually 2-6% of the purchase price and this estimate is at the top end of that range. I'd rather pay less if that's an option.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/glossary/closing-costs

I got an estimate for an investment loan for a condo. The closing costs and fees seem very high. Is this in line with what everyone else is seeing? 

Thanks everyone for the advice. I recently got a property under contract. The house was a flip. I did contact the city and they gave me the permit history and the only permit they had was for a water heater from 2012. This property also had an extra bedroom that wasn't accounted for in the county property lookup. I paid $500 for the home inspection which found problems with the roof, foundation, HVAC, and plumbing. I ended up cancelling the contract because it would have been too costly to repair all of those things. It's a shame too because I really like the location and the layout for the house hacking strategy I was planning. Going forward, I'd like to try to get as much information I can get before putting a property under contract. I'm also planning to just pass on any property that has been flipped. 

I found another one that had a two story garage that was completely converted to a "in law house" but I'm pretty sure that wasn't permitted either. County website shows half the square footage as the MLS listing and it shows that there is a garage. I'd probably go for it if I could be sure it was a permitted conversion that I could then rent out.

Thanks for the reply. My question was more general but I have seen that document for Virginia Beach before. I wish all the cities around here would put out a similar document but even this one still leaves me with a lot of questions. It's difficult for me to understand the rules when I try to read the actual city codes and ordinances. 

How do you know if you'll be legally allowed to convert a detached garage into living space or create any other type of square footage increase: attached garage conversion, basement or attic conversion, ADU, etc. Do we just need to ask the city about every property we're interested in or do we need to wait until we're under contract on a specific property? Or should we ask every city we might buy in what their laws allow. I've found a few houses with these additions or conversions and when I check with the city, there were never permits so I know a lot of people just do it anyway.

How much cash does said cash buyer need? I've got some cash but I'm still saving up. 

Quote from @Erick Pinzon:

If anyone is curious my winter is looking pretty good. My lower unit is reserved a few weekends for family resulting in the $6k less. These are 3/2 Summit units listed on vrbo/booking.com/airbnb/private. Happy to chat if you have any questions. 

 @Erick Pinzon Thanks for sharing all the details in this thread. I've been considering buying something at Snowshoe so it's extremely helpful to see what it's really like. It looks like I missed out though. There's a 3/2 unit in Summit on Zillow for $250k and I can't imagine how that would cashflow if not buying it all cash. 

Gotcha, yeah for a second I was hopeful there was an easier way, besides AirDNA which I find to be inaccurate at times.