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All Forum Posts by: Nathan Dehn

Nathan Dehn has started 13 posts and replied 38 times.

Post: House Hack with Short Term Rental

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $228,000
Cash invested: $10,000

We closed on this duplex 1 week after getting married. it's on a cute commercial strip in the city with coffee shops, antique stores, and restaurants. Perfect for a short term rental. We moved into the lower unit studio. Then, a year later converted the studio to a short term rental and moved upstairs.
We rent the upper unit for $1500/mo and after all expenses our airbnb nets $1000/mo. While our mortgage is only $1250/mo after a refi 2 years later, increasing our equity from 3.5% to over 30%.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Wanted to invest in an area we could walk to local coffee shops and restaurants. just so happened to be a killer deal!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on the MLS and waited a few weeks before writing an offer because we were tired of focusing on new properties that attracted cash buyers. Ended up getting closing costs paid for!

How did you finance this deal?

FHA financing, later refi into a conventional loan 1 year later.

How did you add value to the deal?

added value with elbow grease through painting, functional updates, laying a brick patio, and light fixtures.

What was the outcome?

By far our best investment! Still has high maintenance costs. But, the equity has jumped so high. And, still renting very well. We plan to hold this until we retire.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The biggest lesson we learned was it's worth to hire professionals! I'm NOT handy. And, we did a lot of work ourselves. But, when we transitioned to professional management and did a short term rental on the lower unit. We realized the time/frustration/quality of work made it sooo worth it to use professionals!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, my mother in law since this was before I became an agent. :)

Post: House Hack without seeing the inside!!

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $240,000
Cash invested: $5,000

My wife and I bought our 3rd duplex via house hacking. Able to put the minimum 3.5% down, received credits from the seller, and extended 1 tenant's lease for 5 years!
This one was crazy because we got under contract without any pictures and knew the upstairs tenant needed to be evicted. The pictures show how disgusting it was! But, allowed us to get a great deal and get more space for our growing family.
Mortgage payment of $1600/mo. Lower floor rent is $1000 with market rent of $1200.
We moved out of this rental in 2023 and rented the upstairs unit for $1275/mo.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We've invested in multiple house hacks and this one stuck out to us because it is located in a great area, but had no pictures and a troubled tenant. Making it a great investment to take on someone else's problem.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on the MLS and negotiated that the seller had to evict the non paying tenant. Since it was on the market a while we were able to negotiate the seller to pay closing costs.

How did you finance this deal?

We used an FHA loan in my wife's name to put minimum amount down.

How did you add value to the deal?

We renovated the unit we lived in with paint, light fixtures, new deck, refresh the kitchen and bathroom. total cost was $25k after all was said and done over 1 year.

What was the outcome?

Moved out 1 year after purchase. Spent $25k total on the home. Appreciated over $50k in value and currently renting at $1000 and $1275/mo with great tenants.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

biggest challange was getting my spouse on board. We get under contract with no pictures. And, saw the condition when we did inspections. And, we were expecting our first child 1mo after expected move in date. So, learned a lot about staying calm, planning ahead, and how to coordinate between multiple contractors.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Worked with me and all contractors/lenders I always work with :)

Post: First BRRRRR Investment

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $85,000
Cash invested: $10,000

My mother in law and I invested in this BRRRR property in an up and coming neighborhood of St. Louis. The rehab took 8 months because of contractor fails and covid. It was a nightmare of a property but learned so many lessons! And the result? Bought for $85k , rehabbed for $70k, rented for $950/unit, and refinanced to only leave $15k in the property that appraised for $200k. Producing $300/mo cash flow.

Post: First House Hacking Experience

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $122,000
Cash invested: $3,500
Sale price: $162,000

Purchased a small duplex with an FHA loan where I live in one unit and renting the other out. This was our first investment property we bought and has turned out really well! Biggest thing I learned is that a good tenant makes investing fun!
Bought with only $5k down. Lost $10k during ownership (because we lived in it for 2 years). And sold it for a $40k profit 4 years later.

Post: 1st Time Duplex Investor - Expense Load

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22
Quote from @Will Morehead:
Quote from @Nathan Murith:

Hi @Will Morehead, congratulations on doing the work!

We invest in STL and are always happy to share what we know and help others. Please do not hesitate to DM me if you want to discuss in more detail.

We conservatively go with these numbers for utilities: $40/month water, $30/month trash, $100/month sewer, $50/month lawn care (which it seems like you may be doing yourself). This are of course numbers we use assuming we rent our both units in the duplex, I.e. not househack like you are trying to do. Property taxes we call the county assessor's office to get the true number. we like to use 5% of rent for reserves for cap ex (big stuff like roof), and 5% of rent for repairs.

it all depends on your goals, but if you look at your numbers above, you can either look at this and say you investment property is losing you $218/month, or you can look at it that living and your rent is only $218/month. I am not sure where one could live for $218/month :-

please reach out, happy to share other tools, tips, tricks, info we have if interested!

Nathan, thanks for the intel that's super helpful. Quick follow-up questions...On your properties is electricity typically paid directly if separately metered? Also, do you typically access utilities via a fee on top of rent or do you bake that into the rental rate so it's all-inclusive? 


 Hey Will! nice job on taking steps to buy your first duplex!! My wife and I have house hacked 3 duplexes here in STL and I know it can be hard to find ones that cashflow and not get beat out by larger investors. 

All info shared is spot on! But, to answer your question, each unit is metered separately. in STL, owner pays water trash and sewer and tenant pays gas and electric. 

I always assume 5% capex 5% repairs 5% vacancy 10% property manager and $150-200 for utilities when calculating expenses in STL city. 

Feel free to reach out with more questions! 

Post: 3rd House Hack Duplex

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Thanks Andrew! Ended up only spending $5k to purchase this property. Spent another $8k fixing up our unit. But, that's just extra equity. 

Whenever we move out, the COC will be awesome since we have so little invested. But, since we only put 3.5% down, hard to cashflow too much since we financed 96% and pay PMI. But, hard to beat paying only $5k for a property and paying only $600 to live in a family friendly neighborhood!

Post: First BRRRRR Investment

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22
Quote from @Kaohuhealani Trueman Jr:

That's awesome Nathan, congrats! Are there still deals in St. Louis like that? I'm new to real estate investing and do like the BRRR method a lot and am currently searching for a good market to jump in to.


 Hey there! Definitely lots of deals like this in STL! As with most markets, just very tight since prices are so high! 

But, South city has been developing significantly where you can take a run down property and turn it into a top dollar property. Or, can still work in some suburban parts of STL.

you and PM me so we can chat more about what you're looking for and if STL makes sense. 

Post: First BRRRRR Investment

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $85,000
Cash invested: $70,000

My mother in law and I invested in this BRRRR property in a transitioning neighborhood of St. Louis. The rehab took 9 months because of contractor fails and covid. It was a nightmare of a property but learned so many lessons! And the result? Bought for $85k , rehabbed for $70k, rented for $950/unit, and refinanced to only leave $15k in the property that appraised for $200k.
This deal had it all! contractor skip town, squatters, theft, bats, rats, and crazy tenants!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Already bought 2 buy and holds and wanted to dip my toe into something a little harder.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

FSBO on zillow. And, bought it at list price.

How did you finance this deal?

Used a commercial loan and mother in law financed the cash needed.

How did you add value to the deal?

We did a medium rehab. New floors, paint, doors, kitchen, bathroom, and a decent amount of plumbing and electrical.

What was the outcome?

It was a success! But, extremely stressful and aged me 10 years! Right now, it's renting great, in an up and coming area that's constantly having homes flipped. Giving us added equity and still a good amount of cash flow.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

So Many!! The squeaky wheel gets the oil! Need to stay on your contractors, even if they are in a difficult position because of covid.
Don't list the property for rent before the property is fully ready if you know your contractor is being slow.
Be willing to have difficult conversations with your family on cutting bait.
Put on chimney caps so bats don't get into the unit and freak your tenant out.
Always remember that things can and will go wrong. But, worth it in the end!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, my Krista my mother in law and myself. :)

Post: House Hack on Cherokee st

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $228,000
Cash invested: $10,000

We closed on this duplex 1 week after getting married. it's on a cute commercial strip in the city with coffee shops, antique stores, and restaurants. Perfect for a short term rental. We moved into the lower unit studio. Then, a year later converted the studio to a short term rental and moved upstairs.
Currently rent unit 2 for $1500/mo and after all expenses our airbnb nets $1000/mo. While our mortgage is only $1250/mo after a refi 2 years later, increasing our equity from 3.5% to over 30%.

Post: House Hack on Cherokee st

Nathan DehnPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • St. Louis
  • Posts 44
  • Votes 22

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in St. Louis.

Purchase price: $228,000
Cash invested: $10,000

We closed on this duplex 1 week after getting married. it's on a cute commercial strip in the city with coffee shops, antique stores, and restaurants. Perfect for a short term rental. We moved into the lower unit studio. Then, a year later converted the studio to a short term rental and moved upstairs.
Now, we rent the upper unit for $1500/mo and after all expenses our airbnb nets $1000/mo. While our mortgage is only $1250/mo after a refi 2 years later, increasing our equity from 3.5% to over 30%.