All Forum Posts by: Leo Gregoire

As Jackson said above, i believe you would be fine moving on from your current househack and finding another. I work with a lot of househackers and they're typically on the 12 month cycle, rinse and repeat.

While the proposition of acquiring an investment property outside of your market in a "landlord friendly" state may sound appealing, i would recommend you stay local for now and househack another couple of properties over the next few years until you've got some more time / experience under your belt.

you would need a management company to cover your property that is outside of your market which would not only take 8-10% of your gross it would also leave you a bit vulnerable to a property management company that you A.)know nothing about and B.)you won't have the experience or cashflow or proximity to deal with any headaches that may arise.

i would recommend staying local and househacking your way along for now and then maybe hire a local property management company initially to work with your current/local properties to get a taste of what to expect if and when you begin investing outside of your market.

Hey Tre,

i'm not sure where you work or if you have a preference for location but i have a brokerage buddy who just locked up a househack in Athol. Units are cheap and they just put a Starbucks in so there's got to be something growing there.

North of Worcester ie. Lowell, Fitchburg, and Leominster have cheaper units and aren't bad places to invest.

South of Worcester ie. Southbridge and Webster are cheaper as well.

There will be obvious trade-offs in terms of location / amenities and price but i have seen good traction in all of the aforementioned locations.

I'm looking for househacks for clients around central Mass and while they're not impossible to find by any means units in Worcester are typically trading at $225-250. It's a very competitive market there.

I think your 203k approach will likely be a leg up in deal hunting as you'll be able to take on an investment that needs a bigger scope of work while others might be looking for a more standard value add situation.

let's connect. i'd love to help however i can

There are definitely sober folks out there that would hop on the opportunity to live amongst other sober people. I have similar questions to Joe; are you expecting too much from a requirement stand point (aside from the alcohol)? property location/ condition? price?

I think the thing you have going for you is your religion; you have to know some other folks of your faith and where you can find like-minded individuals. Do you have a place of worship? i'd start there. You're definitely not the only one in this religion so there's other people that will likely be dealing with alcohol-free life and navigating that situation.

i am unfamiliar with your local market but up in the North East, New England in particular, my brokerage hosts a lot of REI meet ups every month. That's actually how i found my brokerage and then later joined. There's an "events and meet ups" section on BP; i would suggest starting there. I find it hard to believe there won't be access to some kind of REI meet up somewhere around most anyone these days.

I would suggest going to as many REI meet ups as possible. Meet fellow investors in your area and build relationships with them. My team lead is a mentor of mine so to speak but in general, the people i have met through REI meet ups have considerably changed my trajectory and are real world, local examples that have helped me along the way and for free. You can learn from someone one step ahead of you and then do business together.

I'm sure there are plenty of mentors you could pay substantial money to to gain knowledge and know how but i doubt it could replace actual relationships that are pertinent to your market and current business.

Quote from @Alan Asriants:

Hey Nicholas! It is awesome that you are getting started early in your career. $220,000 is definitely a lower purchase price amount and really limits you on what you can buy. Unfortunately MF might be out of the question. If you are comfortable living with roommates, a SFH househack could be the move for you. If you are looking to buy in PA, its possible you can qualify for PHA KFIT program that gives you a 5% closing cost forgivable loan. The 22k in NJ is a sweeter deal and I think you will have better luck finding a SFH at 220k in a decent are in NJ than PA.

If you ever want to talk more, I'm happy to connect. Reach out anytime

agreed. i am unfamiliar with his markets but $220 does seem very low. a sf room mate/ BRRRR strategy seems more practical

Quote from @John Clark:

Did you check for houses on the auction list,  or you can check with banks and look for REOs and convert that into a single family home and house hack or turn it into a Airbnb.  You can look into low-income neighborhoods usually the properties are of lower value, but I'm not quite sure if that applies everywhere but I know in Florida I see it here and there, and if you need help looking I don't mind helping.

i would be wary about REO/HUD owned properties as a first time househack. Most if not all of these properties require SIGNIFICANT cap ex rehabs and conventional financing won't touch them; you'd likely need to go the hard money route at 10-12%, 2 points, 12-18mon turn around. It's not impossible but certainly a huge undertaking with a lot of pressure on a first time househacker.

I'm working with an investor client who is particularly interested in fix & flips. we've come across a number of lender owned / HUD owned properties with steep discounts. I'm working with my brokerage to get myself HUD registered so that we can bid on the HUD properties but my question is to anyone who has dealt with these lender/government owned properties before; are they worth pursuing?

i understand that's very general and each is a case by case basis; we've viewed a couple of them. They were abandoned and needed significant work which wasn't a huge issue but in terms of HUD owned properties i heard there can be significant processing periods. Could these waits be mitigated by going the hard/private money route?

I'm assuming you werent taking 15% of gross off the top for cap ex, vacancy, and maintenance? 

60k is definitely a hit and unfortunate for sure but it sounds like you have two opportunities to force appreciation up front and collect off the back end. Being able to raise rents after the rehabs will sting at first (up front) but will definitely help moving forward with cashflow.

as mentioned above, staggering leases could help mitigate.

i would sell the property. $50/mon cashflow is essentially breaking even and even with the $125/mon you're not cashflowing enough to justify the risk, i don't think. As Elias mentioned above i think you're insurance costs will continue to rise and while the property may appreciate as well i don't think juice is worth the squeeze. Virtually any cap ex expense will wipe out more than a years returns. 

The interest rate is nice, if there was a way to increase the cash flow to ~15% or greater COC you could pull a HELOC on the property for 9% and collect the delta.

again though, i would suggest selling it and trying to lock up a property or two with the proceeds that required some sweat equity, force appreciation through a reno, rent it out, refinance and repeat (BRRRR)

Dalton,

A multi LTR strategy sounds like a great play for 2025.

i would suggest attending any and all REI meet ups in your area that you can find; my brokerage hosts a bunch of them up in the north east and it's been huge for our growth.

i would also suggest finding an investor focused agent. I think you can through BP or through the aforementioned REI meet ups more than likely.

i am inclined to agree with a previous poster in that i'm not sure driving for dollars will necessarily yield you what you are looking for.

Network with as many other MF investors as possible in your area and find an agent that knows the market and can at the very least set you up on an MLS search for your criteria.

Coupled with BP's deal analysis calculator you can then begin underwriting properties you receive from the MLS with your agent or on your own to better understand your market and tailor your expectations moving forward.

I'm an investor focused agent that focuses on MF and while we are not in the same market if you have any questions about moving forward with MF LTRs i'd love to see how i could help.