All Forum Posts by: Kelly H.

Thanks for the reply Lane,

I think you make a good point that I need to spend more time just crunching the raw numbers.  

I guess my real question is what is the value of house hacking from a more qualitative approach, and is it worth the opportunity cost of $50-100k to gain that experience?  I look at it like investing in a college education for something I plan to be doing for the next 25-30 years, which I'm perfectly okay with if it's deemed worthwhile.  

If I stay in Hawaii I'd definitely have more of a focus on flipping as it's pretty clear to me that cash flow is a tough thing to come by, but therein lies my dilemma that I'm not sure how comfortable I am starting off as a brand new investor jumping straight into flipping and remote investing off the bat, whereas starting with a house hack seems infinitely less risky.

I should also throw out this is all arbitrary at this point as I'm still in the process of paying off my remaining personal/student debt, so it's not like I could jump into investing right this moment.  More just trying to figure out a game plan and what my goals should be to get started.

I currently live in Hawaii and am a few years out from getting started in REI (I'd like to save between $80-100k before getting started), but am taking this time to learn and educate myself on the ins and outs. My goal is to become proficient in both flips and BRRR, and possibly vacation rentals as well.

Starting out in REI, if I stay in Hawaii I would be able to earn roughly $100-120k annually if I stay in my current line of work. If I were to move to the mainland, this would likely fall to approximately $70-90k a year, so roughly a $30k difference. However, living on the mainland would afford me more opportunities to get started and grow sooner (I think?) as well as the option to house hack, which doesn't seem very feasible in Hawaii as a new investor. I would be going into this with essentially zero debt, good credit, and possibly access to a HELOC as my family's property is fully paid off, valued roughly between $800-900k.

So my questions are...

1) Given my general situation, is it better to keep the higher salary and stay in the more expensive market, or sacrifice some of that (~$30k) to take advantage of househacking/other opportunities in cheaper markets?

2) How much does access to the HELOC change/benefit my situation, and what would be the best way to leverage that starting out?

3) I know I can get started for less, but I prefer to take a more conservative route starting out, so is saving up $80-100k a wise goal or is this too passive, also considering question 1 where I have the option to move.

I have so many more questions but I'll just leave it at these for now.  I've learned quite a bit just browsing the forums and will continue to do so, so thank you all for your generosity in sharing your knowledge!