All Forum Posts by: Neil Quinn

 You just mean a duplex? Seem few and far between. I know Russell pointed me to one, but even in Trinidad asking price was $700k+ and the rents weren't so good ($1800/unit).

I realize it's a pretty brutal market, so just looking for any other ideas for neighborhoods/tips that might help me in this situation.

Currently renting and looking to buy, but would like to avoid a direct roommate situation if possible - more like separate unit / basement with entrance / etc. Also ideally looking for metro access, but that of course adds more cost.

For staying closer in, I think this mostly means Del Ray, Old Town, or further out Falls Church or Huntington.
Possibly open to DC, though I would prefer to stay in VA for better landlord rights I think.

With interest rates > 5%, I'm seeing most modest townhomes in Del Ray end up with roughly $4k mortgage payments, and a basement might rent for $1200-$1300 if done nicely. This inventory is also really hard to find, and many basements are incredibly small and may not even be rentable that way. Open to using AirBNB for a converted space as well.

I'm not looking to head way out to springfield or super far south just because I'd like to maintain some kind of social life.

Anything else you'd target? If you were me would you:

1. Suck it up and just go for the higher payment in Del Ray/Old town where income might only cover 1/3  of mortgage unless I add another live-in roommate but get the better location/appreciation. These places would also be top of budget for me and I can barely swing them now on my income, but could be a good hold long term.

2. Just give up the socialness and do a cheaper area like Huntington or Falls Church. I'm not sure if I'd have a better chance there.

3. Give up metros entirely and find a SFH that I can get cheaper. My fear here though is that it might be a lot harder to find tenants if I don't have metro access, or the rent would be considerably lower.

4. Just give up on house hacking entirely in the DC area and buy a condo or something, and invest in remote real estate in more affordable areas.

Budget ~ $800k @ 5% right now / $4k-ish payment, maybe some flexiblity right now, but depends on how badly rates rise. Of course if the house hack situation allows for more rental income (i.e. 2 rental units/etc) then I'd be open to a slightly higher budget. I do have a good amount of capital I could use for down payment.

Feeling very desperate/frustated/screwed right now with these interest rate increases.

Makes sense - just minimal construction to add doors/windows/stairs and some plumbing.

Thanks David. This seems appealing too, but I fear the initial outlay of an Arlington property + ADU would be damn expensive. Feel free to message me any numbers that you think might be reasonable or that you've seen.

For example, any idea what a small 500 sqft or so ADU would cost to build?

I'm flexible, but was mostly focusing on northern virginia, because quite honestly, landlording in DC sounds terrifying to me.

Trying to stay as close to DC as possible without spending a fortune since I want to live in it for a while and am still single.

I'm in the DC area, where multi-family units/duplexes/etc are basically non-existent, or command insane prices.

If you were going to consider building instead, here are some questions:

1. Would it be silly to consider new construction at this time in 2020 given current material costs?

2. Other than a duplex style, what type of small-ish build outs would be affordable but also be most convenient for house hacking or renting out to a tentant without interacting with them as much? For example, basements with separate walk-in entrances, etc. Are there any builder websites that might show a # of different property builds that might be optimized for something like owner occupied or tiny multi-family/duplex?

Try the Caza meetup that meets in Falls Church.   I tried around 4 a few months ago and most were super salesy/cheesy, but that one was good.

https://www.meetup.com/CAZA-Real-Estate-Investor-N...

Looks like they might have just changed the name to grid network or something.

Thanks for the reply Ray.  These are -very- rough numbers I started to give me a sense of how negative I might be.  To answer your questions:

1.  Focusing on Northern Virginia rather than DC for better landlord laws and prices.  

2. Was trying to find townhouses with lower HOA fees ($100-$300) rather than condos near metros where HOA fees would kill me ($400-$700)

3.  As mentioned, looking in NoVA where I could hopefully find something bigger, at least a 2 bed.

4.  If I was going to invest in DC I agree with NE.  The tenant rights absolutely terrify me as a possible future landlord though.  So many horror stories about DC.

5. Right, I assume HOA will decrease capex because of the shared costs

6.  RE: Metro I'm having a hard time deciding.  It definitely would reduce vacancy, and probably appreciate better over the long term, but seems like trying to find one that could cash-flow positively is near impossible.

7. My total budget is flexible - prob could do 400-600k or so, but was hoping to keep the deal on the smaller side.  I'd only up my budget if it meant moving from negative/even cashflow to a more positive cashflow.

I'm quite flexible at this point and trying to balance up front cost/cash-flow vs. long term appreciation and rent growth.