All Forum Posts by: Xavier A. Malave

A quick Google search turned this up:

Some states, like South Carolina and Oregon, even require aspiring managers to carry a specific property manager's license. Residents of Idaho, Vermont, Kansas, and Maine, among others, however, don't have to worry about licensing. Their states don't have licensing requirements for property managers.

Of course, I would verify this. 

Since she already has a real estate license, it shouldn't be that difficult to get a brokers license. I have one, and was never a real estate agent.

One alternative to buying an entire storage facility yourself is spreading smaller amounts among many different private equity storage facilities. Reliant, Spartan, Nomad, Hearthfire, and Belrose are all reputable real estate syndicators operating in the self-storage space. They also bring an economy of scale with them. 

We sometimes look at storage syndication deals in our Co-Investing Club. That lets you invest with even less per property, $5K instead of the typical $50-100K minimum investment for a syndication deal. 

And, of course, syndications are completely passive investments. If you invest with a syndicator, they take on all the headaches of lining up financing, hassling with contractors, property management, etc. That leaves you free to keep on living your life. 

Some investors love managing properties themselves, but personally I no longer invest actively. I only invest passively in real estate at this point, and I'm a lot happier for it. 

 House hacking is a great way to get started! When I got started investing my sophomore year of college, I had $500 to my name, My grandmother lent me $12k for the downpayment on a duplex on OSU campus in Columbus. Over the course of a year my wife and I fixed it up, rented to friends, ate peanut butter and jelly, did everything we could. We then refinanced the property and it has given us $140k in cash back and continually produces $1,800/month in cash flow.

Reach out to Heidi Zapata in San Anotnio! She is a hustler and finds off market deals for her house-hacking clients! Here's website: https://heidi.tdtrealtors.com/

Xavier,  I am not familiar with your market - but I made this post on another thread last week and thought it would be good to repost here.  We primarily work with clients looking to househack and have seen that ADUs have been growing in popularity since the small multifamily market is super saturated by non-investors simply just looking for discounted living, not a real estate investment deal.  This has driven the prices of most small multifamilies to prices that hardly make sense.

See post below:

In many markets, the ideal house hack is getting harder and harder to find but I always found this to be true after selling many househack properties to clients and buying them myself:

The more uncomfortable you are willing to get, the more money you can make in terms of cash flow.

Below are the different ways to make a househack work nowadays in my market and many others from most likely to cash flow to least likely to cash flow. Notice that as you get more privacy and do less work, your cash flow will go down.

1. By the Room House Hack - Get as many bedrooms as you can to rent out. You will likely find more deals that will cash flow while you live there on top of covering all expenses. But as mentioned in the rule - this will be the most uncomfortable since you will be seeing your tenants in your kitchen almost every day. Also check your zoning regulations to see if there are any restrictions for the maximum amount of unrelated occupants.

2. ADU (Live in ADU) - Rent out the home. It'll likely rent more than the ADU unless you have a unicorn where the ADU is nicer than the home. You will likely be living in the less desirable structure but numbers will look better.

3. ADU (Live in Main) - Rent out ADU. The clients that have made the most with this strategy is running an AirBnb out of the ADU. You live in the main home so turnover would be very easy to manage yourself or you could rent long term and just collect with less work. Less work, less money.

4. Multifamily - Good luck with cashflow. At least in my market, people are simply looking to reduce their living expenses and are willing to pay way over because well... their mortgage will still be cheaper than the singlefamily. They aren't analyzing the deal like you are which is why you are confused. Your mindset on these properties is "well this is way to high priced, my cashflow is negative $500". Their mindset "Oh my goodness, I only have to pay $500 per month to live here and all my other options are $1700+/month". That is your competition and something to be aware of if looking for a 2-4 unit. The play here is hold long term, value add and many will try and Airbnb or MTR a unit or two.

ADU's in my market are the most lucrative strategies if you find the right one. Just make sure it isn't falling apart and has its own: Water Heater, HVAC, Full Bath, Kitchen and Laundry. Also ensure there isn't some zoning restriction limiting what you can do with an ADU in your market.

Xavier,

The ultimate goal of a house hack is to reduce your living expenses in the present, build some equity, and learn how to landlord hands on. 

See what your numbers look like AFTER you move out and that should be the determining factor of whether you pursue an investment or not. If those numbers look good, go after it! 

Happy House Hacking!