All Forum Posts by: Beth Anderson

@Beth Anderson For sure. It will be Thursday 4/25 @ 6pm. It will be at the Winking Lizard in Independence. 

I am not a lender, but I would not expect you to qualify for a mortgage on a SFH that you would not be able to afford. Even with future income to offset the mortgage, I would not expect a lender to underwrite a SFH as an income producing property like they would for a multifamily property.

I would not advise you to pursue a house hack that you cannot afford without a tenant, due to the nature that it will certainly take time and mistakes for your first rental to stabilize. 

I wouldn't skip it entirely until you've done all of your due diligence; you can seek additional loan options or even a parter on the deal if the carrying costs are too high. Of course your numbers will need to work if you are going to seek partners!

I wouldn't get too hung up on a specific number or rule about how much of the mortgage you are responsible for after your rental income WHILE LIVING IN THE PROPERTY. What I would really concentrate on is analyzing the deal as a traditional long term rental without you living in the property in 1-2 years. A few things to think about:

Does it cash flow? 
If not, how much of a loss are you taking? 
Will it cash flow in year 2-3, or will I need to sell after I move out?

Offsetting any part of your mortgage is going to be a huge benefit while you live in the property, hence why I am less focused on a certain rule or number. You need to make sure the next 25+ after you move out of the property make sense as a rental and where I would shift some of the focus!

For reference, I have moved out of 2 house hacks, turned them into LTRs, and one cash flows while the other doesn't just ever so slightly :)

 It means you can create a separate unit inside your home. Where I am, people often create a suite in the basement-so it has a separate entrance, their own kitchen and living area, etc.  The two units are separate.

@Beth Anderson For my house hack, I had a fairly low tolerance for risk, so I made sure that even if I did not have renters, I could pay the mortgage. This allowed me to feel comfortable buying the house and not having to worry about rushing tenants into the property. I would continue to look at other houses in your price point and try and build up your cash reserves. The more reserves you have, the more risk you can take on.

Good Luck! 

Can you make a legal suite?  Do you have reserves for renos and vacancies?

Hey Beth!

As a fellow Ohioian down in Stark County - welcome to BP! If you ever have any financing-related questions along your journey, please don't hesitate to reach out. :) Good luck!