All Forum Posts by: Matthew Ryan

@Michelle Elsaid

Thank you so much for your input!  Those are all definitely things to watch for and consider.  I just want to make sure I am not signing myself up for a battle!  In order to make this whole thing work, I NEED to live in the property, much like what your situation seems to be, so hopefully everyone just goes on their way and don't leave me holding pieces of a broken lease/ unit.

Best of Luck!

Hi @Michelle Elsaid!

Do you have any updates to your situation? Just curious because I am currently in the same position. Looking to use an FHA Loan to buy my first multi (duplex), and I would say about 75% of the ones I look at and actually like, are fully occupied and "tenants would like to stay". One in particular recently got me really interested, great potential, fully occupied.

If anything worked for you, I would be very interested to know your strategies!

Thanks!

Hey guys,

I tried to search this topic a bit, but didn't really come up with what I was looking for.

In my search for a house hacking property, I have found a lot of currently occupied homes.  I'm talking everything from all units rented, one open unit and others rented, tenants at will, long term tenants, you name it. I see a lot of "tenants at will and would love to stay"

My question is basically this example. 

2 family unit

Ad says: both units currently rented to long term tenants who are TAW

Question: If you were trying to house hack, with or without renovations needed, how would you approach the situation? Pass it up? Ask one to move out?  Whoever doesn't like the lease/ price can move out? What if they don't want to move?

Is it just too sticky of a situation to deal with?

I guess the same question could be applied to taking over a house that has an open unit and a current tenant, at will or under lease.  How would you approach that?

Using FHA I believe I need to live in the house, so just picking it up for instant cash flow isn't an option.

Thanks for your input REI pros!

@Dan Smith  Thanks for the welcome!

I absolutely value your .02.  I will be reaching out!  I am glad your first property went over so well.  I can only hope mine, when I get there, goes smoothly as well.  I could definitely see how having that "extra" tenant could help to leverage some of the risk that comes with this journey. 

@Steve Bracero

Thanks for the welcome! That is currently what I am doing, just reading, listening, and then repeating.  I definitely need to educate myself even further on the analytical portion of these deals, but it looks like BP and its members have that all covered, so with some time and patience, we'll get there!

Good Luck!

@Paul Timmins

Thank you for you advice and your opinions.  I will definitely look into some of these niche markets you are referring to as well as the literature. Also, thank you for the point in the right direction for the networking groups.

A couple of questions in response to your post:

Do you currently, or have you in the past, done student rentals?  If so, undergrad? graduate?

I had thought about that in the past, especially given that Worcester is a college city, but then I thought about my undergrad experience and some of the friends I had in college, and I wouldn't rent to some of my old friends or teammates... that is for sure!

Also, does this create too frequent of turnover on the unit?

Given that I want to house hack, I'm not sure I am up to sharing walls with the 19 year old version of me and my buddies.

As always, thanks for the info. Trying to satisfy this hunger for knowledge in REI!

Matt

Hey @Aron Roytenberg, thanks for the welcome!  Likewise my friend.  I wish I got turned onto this when I first graduated to get the wheels turning earlier (not that at 27 I have missed the boat).  Best of luck to you and your journey on setting up a lifestyle of your choosing!

That is phenomenal @Patrick Reynolds! Sounds like you are about a year (hopefully much less) ahead of me on the same path!  Any tips for the Worcester market/ tenants/ rent rates/ areas you looked in most heavily?  Trying to stay close to the highways, which isn't too hard in this city, and close to Shrewsbury Street/ Rt 9 area was my thoughts, both for personal preference and for the appeal to potential tenants.

Any tips you encountered on this path would be awesome as I will probably encounter many of your experiences.

Thanks, and best of luck!

Thanks everyone! @Leslie Pappas @Rob McCarthy, and @Andrew Beaver, best of luck and wishes of success to you as well.

Hello All,

My name is Matt, and I am a 27 year old financial analyst in Massachusetts.  I have always dreamed of being my own boss and creating a lifestyle of my choosing, and doing something I think I can be passionate about.  This does not involve sitting in front of Excel spreadsheets for 50 hours per week and making a decent, yet modest income until I am old enough to be a grandfather and can retire.  Being relatively early in my career, and carrying some awesome student loans, I, like many other I am assuming, started thinking of any way I could change the path of my life. 

After finally saving enough, and working through a couple promotions at work, I could afford to move out with an old college buddy.  We got a small, but nice, 2 bedroom condo in downtown Worcester.  one day, playing around on the real estate sites I found our condo on, I found our condo and when it was sold and how much it went for.  Being somewhat of a numbers guy, I did simple math so see that my landlord was making somewhere in the $300-400 per month range off of us after paying the mortgage.  After seeing that and realizing that we have not called him once for an issue (knock on wood), I just couldn't let go of the fact that he just stops by and grabs a total of about $2250 every month off of the couple units he has and then its radio silence until the first of the next month.

Given the total "Newb" state I am in, I did my research and stumbled across a ton of info online.  In that I found the BP podcasts on YouTube.  They now run constantly in the background while I work. (Which leads to more stopping and taking notes than it does working... oops).

All that being said, It looks like I am trying to be a "house hacker".  I'm currently looking at duplexes in the Worcester area and along the 290/495 belt.  Money is tight with the student loans, but this is the way to freedom and I can see it.  I'm still drinking out of the fire hose of info on this site and in the forums, but just wanted to say "Hey" and any info for this newb is more than welcomed!

Thanks Guys!