All Forum Posts by: Michael Akai

Thanks for the idea. I think I will call the local power company an inquire about the costs and labor associated with splitting the metering as you suggested!

Thanks for the reply. That’s likely what I’ll end up doing. 

Hello all,

I currently have a multigenerational house under contract (A 3/2 house with an attached 1/1 in-law suite).

I plan to house hack by living in the 1/1 while renting out the 3/2 portion. I think this can work as a "psuedo-duplex" because the property has separate entrances for each "unit" as well as separate kitchens and living areas.

However, there is only 1 electric and water meter for the entire property which poses some problems when trying to plan monthly charges for tenants. One idea I've had was to call the sales reps for the utility companies and asking for average seasonal and yearly costs by sqft. and using those figures as a baseline for what to charge the tenets for their utility usage.

Has anyone who's reading this had success with landlording a MFH with a single meter, if so what procedure did you put in place to fairly chare your tenants? Also, open to ideas from those who haven't come across this issue in their real estate career, but can offer some creative insight!

Thank!

Hello Courtney, depending on where In Dallas you are looking it's going to be hard to find the desirable rental property that satisfies 1% rule and only requires some TLC or cosmetic repairs. This is in part because of home values In the area are high and competition from other investors that further drive purchase prices. This means we have to get creative. For instance you could look to implement the SFH house hack in a suburban area outside Dallas with a good bed to bath ratio and rent by the room. You get all the same advantages of a multifamily house hack minus the privacy, but once you wash rinse and repeat a few times you'll have equity at your disposal to help you leverage into other deals that no longer require you to have roommates.

To find rent comps I like to do he following 

1. Use rentometer simple and quick 

2. Use Zillow and Redfin to look at what comparable properties are renting for In the area.

3. Use the MLS portal made available by a Realtor to again look at current rent postings of comparable properties.

Hope this helps. If you or anyone else reading this who’s looking to invest in Dallas would like to connect please reach out. I’m looking to by my first property by the end of the year and love discussing strategies with other investors.

Anytime always happy to share thoughts and knowledge with others!

Hey Martin,

I am a newbie investor in the northeast Dallas market who like you has aspirations to one day have a portfolio of long term cash flowing properties. I've spent the last few months monitoring properties on the MLS and there have been very few SFH and MFH with desirable numbers. How did you go about connecting with wholesalers in the area? I am looking to connect with a few myself to increase my deal sourcing funnel.

Thanks,

Mike

I have been using rentometer in parallel with Zillow and MLS data to get my rental comps but didn't think to use it for 1 bedroom comps, that a good idea.

My area has a healthy mix of both state and community colleges which could provide the benefit of demand for single room rentals from an audience that is already used to sharing common spaces so definitely worth looking into. But the immediate future of in-class instruction is a bit uncertain right now for obvious reasons.

Thanks for the house hacking strategy plug and for your willingness to take the time to respond to my original post. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

Kyle thank you for the kind words of inspiration. I do like the cashflow benefits the "rent-by-room" strategy can bring. I am a bit concerned about what the demand is for single-room rentals.  Do you know a solid way of determining such a figure?

Hello All,

I am an inspiring buy and hold investor in the Northeast Dallas area and I'm looking for some advice regarding the purchase of my first rental investment property.

A rough outline of my house hacking strategy is as follows.

• Purchase a duplex with a 3.5% FHA loan
•  Put a portion of my monthly savings each month to upgrading/modernizing my half of the duplex while renting the other half then move into the other half after a year or so and repeat.
• Once both halves of the duplex are repaired to the market standard of the higher renting comps in the area, either used the forced appreciation/equity to either take out a HELOC or do a cash-out refinance to fund my next venture.
  
•  Rinse and repeat.

I have been working with an REA for the last few months so that I could monitor the housing market in the collin county area via the MLS. I really like this area because of the job pull with company headquarters like State Farm and Texas Instruments, and because of the highly sought out public school districts in the area. But I've been coming across some consistent problems in my analysis of these properties and am hoping that someone experienced in this area could provide some insight.

1. Price to rent ratios rarely meet the 1% rule and Property Taxes and PMI's eat away at monthly cash flow, so have any of you found neighborhoods with favorable numbers in these categories?
2. MLS contains few Multifamily units (as expected when compared to the SFR market). Are there any wholesalers in the area who specialize in multifamily units that are willing to connect?
3. Branching off from my second point of there being a small multifamily market, I have been looking into ways to replicate this plan with a single-family unit where I stay for a year or so while upgrading the property to add value but the issues tight cashflow margins (assuming I rent out the property after a year) still persist as well as limited "Good deals" on the MLS.

I am open to any and all feedback, suggestions, and/or guidance regarding my current plan. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Hey yall,

My name is Mike and I am an Electrical Engineer in the Plano/Richardson area in Dallas, TX. 

Like many of yall, I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and chose Real estate as a means to reach financial freedom. I am interested in "Buy and Hold" real estate investments and hope to connect with others in my area who share my aspirations and drive.

There's a saying that "if you want to travel fast, travel alone, but if you want to travel far, travel together." With that, I invite all in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond to reach out, whether its to seek referrals on reading material, you're in need of another noobie to relate your struggles too, or if you just want to say hi, reach out!