All Forum Posts by: Neal Matta

Hey all - I recently posted on here about some roommate concerns and everyone was super helpful. While I have been planning to house hack, I have started to lean more towards the idea of buying a SFH versus a MFH because I am open to the idea of roommates and from what I have read in Craig Curelop's House Hacking Strategy book, SFHs tend to be more profitable in the long run as the appreciation on SFH is greater than MFH.

Following my initial post though, some people were saying that small MFHs in A class areas can appreciate just as greatly as SFHs. I am open to either living in a MFH or a SFH. Eventually it will come down to the other details of the deal. I just wanted to create this post to hear investors thoughts about a MFH vs SFH in the Indianapolis Area (Broad Ripple, Carmel, Fountain Square).

Thanks all!

@Angela Smith Definitely looking for something more turn-key ready. I have some experience with rehab but not enough to the point where I’d feel confident directing teams to handle Reno on existing buildings.

Broad ripple does seem appealing too because of the colleges nearby. Not saying that I’ll get into college housing but that makes me feel more confident about decreasing vacancy.

@Adam Sankowski I appreciate you taking some time out your day to give some advice to a newbie like myself. I hadn't really considered the appreciation rate in different neighborhoods and what you are saying makes sense. My next action items will be to continue to read up about the different strategies and figure out what my best course of action is. 

Like I was mentioning in my reply to Adam, since I am single and do not see myself having a SO for a while now, privacy isn't my biggest concern. Further, even in a MFH, I would need to find roommates. At that point, I was thinking about looking at a SFH because appreciation over time will help increase my equity and once I move out, it may be easier to rent a SFH to a family rather than individuals.

I've begun looking at Carmel, Broad Ripple, and Fountain square. I've been using this map that I found on BiggerPockets to help lead my search. My biggest concern was just vacancy. Since this would be my first exposure to Real Estate, I'm being overly cautious because I'm diving into extremely new territory here.

@Adam Sankowski I figured that since I'd be living alone in a MFH, I'd still need to find roommates to live with in my part of the MFH. At that point, I figured why not just move into a SFH because in the long run, I would be able to make more with the appreciation of the house. On top of that, in Craig Curelop's house hacking book, he mentioned that a SFH tends to cash flow more than a duplex. Once I confirm that I'll be moving to the Indianapolis area, I definitely will find a better real estate agent and have them set up some alerts in the MLS for me for both a SFH and MFH - Whatever deal works best is the one I'll probably end up going with.

@Tchaka Owen oh most definitely not. I guess my thinking is definitely narrow minded. I’m also just a bit overly cautious here and don’t want to run into a vacancy issue before I even have the opportunity to begin house hacking.

Hey All! 

Quick disclaimer: I'm very new to real estate so if I miss anything, please feel free to correct me. I know I have a lot to learn and am by no means an expert. 

I'm currently living at my parents house and saving money. I recently read Craig Curelop's "The House Hacking Strategy" and this really cemented the idea that my first interaction with real estate should be through a house hacking strategy. I was initially looking to go the traditional route but I have found it a bit difficult to find places in the Indianapolis Area to accomplish this. The more I thought about it too, I started to lean towards looking into buying a SFH and renting out the other rooms.

My biggest concern with this is that I am not so sure that I will be able to find single tenant roommates. I was wondering if anyone in the Indianapolis area is doing something similar and has any advice on how to find tenants.

Cheers,

Neal