All Forum Posts by: Megan Frank

Rochester and Somersworth are fine. We love it here! Just don't do the tree streets (pine, maple, chestnut, Lafayette too.) We're off charles,  it's been great! We have really great neighbors too! Good luck!

ProHVAC for heating. They are out of Dover/Rollinsford. They are fabulous. Not allowed to post the number but if you google it you will find it.

We rented a 4 bedroom home to 4 UNH students in NH. 2 have requested to move out but they did find a woman to sublease. She seems to check out. The way I understand it the 2 that moved out would get the security deposit from the sublessee rather than from us since they are the ones still on the hook for the lease. Is this correct?

So this isn't really a question, just wondering if anyone else has been through this. I'm a house hacker and live in a duplex currently. 2 of my upstairs tenants have been hospitalized with covid 19. They also spread it to a friend and 2 of her children. She works at a local diner, so they had to shutdown. The one upstairs tenant that tested negative twice took in the two negative tested children of the diner woman to help. Looks like one of the guys in the hospital will be discharged tomorrow. The other had a chest x ray and he is unfortunately getting worse. He's been in since Friday. My duplex of 5 people has caused 5 cases so far. This stemmed from him working at a place exposed because some preacher recommended not wearing masks at large events. Then the attendants went to party at vfw and other clubs in sanford. I'm worried but trying to stay positive. We picked them up the night they think it was contracted.... it has been 2 1/2 weeks. Sad.

I agree with @Michael Ketchen. If the vacancy rate is low, there are jobs close by, and the numbers work then it is worth the investment. We are in the tri-cities and plan on continuing to invest locally. Good luck!

Sounds like you're being smart... keep doing what you're doing and you will get there

Just like everyone else says,  decrease debt, increase income. You might start with a cheap condo for a hack rather than a triplex or something but if the numbers work,  who cares? My husband and I are house hacking in southern nh and I'm happy to help anyway I can.  Good luck!!

Wow! Congratulations Matt! Looks like your hard work has paid off. Great job!

My husband and I have been house hacking the past few years in Dover, Somersworth, Rochester. We are relatively new so wouldn't be much of  "mentors" but definitely happy to help answer any questions you have. There are lots of podcasts on it too on BP which I am sure you have probably already found. 

We go back and forth on this too. Obviously the benefit of continuing to house hack is not having to put the full 25% down when you go to buy your 2 to 4 uni but moving every year or 2 does get old. My husband and I's biggest obstacle is getting money together for down payments so we have gone from a condo to a 2 family with large yard (single family house with detached garage with 2 bedroom apartment, 1.5 acres) to a single family with in-law (is not downtown and has small yard, town is ok with us renting both units), and now we are back in a 900 sq foot apartment in a duplex (smallest space we have occupied in years) with no yard. If we had bought a single family home as our second purchase that had no rental income we would not have been able to make the other purchases for a much longer time. If you are in a position where you can save lots of money though, maybe it is not as big of an issue. When I look at single family houses online I always look at really large houses with multiple bathrooms to see if there is in-law potential for relatively cheap (like a walk out finished basement with bath already there or space above the garage or a split entry) where you could add a kitchenette and rent it out. With 1 bedroom apartments in Dover renting for $1,000 bucks or so it could really help with your mortgage and you could have a better chance finding a home that has a yard. Accessory apartments are now legal in all towns in NH but most towns have rules you have to owner occupy the home. Another option to try and kill 2 birds with 1 stone would be buying a single family home in Durham, Dover, Lee, Madbury area with many bedrooms where the zoning would allow you to move in a couple years and rent out the house by bedroom to either UNH students or young professionals that can't afford the rising rents. Or you could do a live in flip and buy a fixer upper and live there for 2 years and not have to pay capital gains taxes when you sell. The good news is you have options and you are in a position to move forward. Brandon says on the podcasts a lot, to just keep moving forward. Just make sure you are in a position to continue moving forward. There are actually 2 mutifamily homes under contract right now in Somersworth with .32 and .5 acre yards, so they are out there, and chances are the .5 acre yard property would have room for another building. It is ugly on the exterior but would have made a pretty great investment if the town would allow for another building in the future. I say look at everything and if you decide to go with a single family home look for something that will produce some income while you live there. In your post for option 1, if you buy a single family home, do you plan on just staying there for a long time and buying all your investments in the future as non owner occupied or do you plan on buying a single family to rent out in the future? Have you already used your FHA loan for 3.5% down? Good luck!

Thank you @Axel Ragnarsson! I got an email from them today and see you are going to be speaking at the next meetup. That's awesome! Sounds like you are very successful. I currently work Wednesday nights but will have to see what I can do about that so I can catch some of the meetups. Maybe I will see you there. Thanks for the response!