All Forum Posts by: Kyle Hilliard

Hi Everyone, 

My wife and I are looking to buy a small multi family property to house hack in the next few months. We currently own a SFH in Meridian Township, MI (right next to East Lansing), and are trying to decide what to do with it when we move into the house hack. Our first choice would be to rent it out. The township charges an $800 initial rental registration fee, and then every year a $120 renewal fee and a $100 inspection fee. These fees seem higher than others that I've seen on BP. Do you guys think I should go ahead with renting it out? Is it just a matter of factoring these expenses into the analysis and seeing what the monthly cash flow is like?

Thanks for your help!

@Account Closed

Thanks, Ryan. I think that’s what I want to do. It’s just a matter of pushing myself out of my comfort zone to actually do it, and convincing my wife to give it a shot for a year. 

I’ve been looking into multi family properties but it seems like the majority of what I find are duplexes on realtor.com, Zillow, etc. I almost never see triplexes or 4-plexes. Is that because they are actually so much rarer than duplexes, or am I searching in the wrong places? How do you go about finding 3/4 unit properties? Are there any books out there on this topic?

@Troy DeLong

Hey Troy! Ya, my wife and I bought our first home in East Lansing(actually Meridian Township) about a year ago because I got a job at MSU. My wife is from Chelsea, so we are there and in Ann Arbor all the time as well. I think just based on the prices of homes, we'll probably focus most of our search in the Lansing area but are definitely open to places closer to Chelsea if it makes sense financially. Do you have any SFHs in the Mid-Michigan area? 

@Jonathan Greene

So with an FHA loan, all the units have to be empty when you move in? So you couldn't rent a unit out to pre-existing tenants?

Our plan is to move out of our current home next summer, rent it out, and then use it as a rental permanently. We would either move into another SFH or follow @Tucker Cummings house hacking approach. Our current home is somewhat of a live-in-flip scenario. The house is pretty old and definitely needing some updating. I'm not sure if my wife would want to buy another SFH like that. I think ideally she would want something newer and more modern that we could move into right away. 

@Tucker Cummings

That's exactly the plan that I was thinking as well. Purchase a 2-4 unit (using an FHA/other low DP mortgage), living in one unit for a year and renting out the other units, then purchasing a long-term SFH for ourselves that we wouldn't rent. Did you say anything specifically to get your wife on board with house hacking? Have you guys already closed on your multifamily in Texas?

Hey everyone,

This is actually my first post on BP, so I'm very excited! My wife and I are new to rental property investing and we are still trying to work out the best investing strategy for our goals, so I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice. Our first child was just born a few months ago, so our primary REI goal is to maximize cash flow so I can transition away from my 9-5 job to spend more time with my wife and son (my wife works remotely from home). My initial goal is to have rentals that produce a combined $1500-$2000/month in cash flow after expenses.

Our current primary residence is in East Lansing, MI and we plan to rent it out next summer once we have done some rehab. Based on the rental income estimate from Rentometer, I think the house would produce around $400 in cash flow after all expenses (maintenance, vacancy, CapEx…).

We have $55,000 to invest in new properties in the Lansing, MI area. Starting out, I think we would manage the properties ourselves to reduce expenses. I think we would feel more comfortable purchasing a SFH, but are definitely open to small multi-family if it would generate more cash flow for us. I've been thinking about buying a small multifamily and house hacking it, but I'm not sure if my wife would be open to this. I think she would consider doing it for a year if the numbers were convincing enough.

My questions is: what is the most efficient way to use our $55,000 to maximize our monthly cash flow?

Thank you all very much, and please let me know if I’ve left out any information that you need to make a recommendation.