Sell My Primary for a Larger House Hack in an Expensive Area?

[Nico Dandini]

I live in an expensive area. Specifically, I'm house hacking a 2bed/1bath condo (living in one bedroom and renting out the other). I don't have enough cash to purchase a house hack without selling my condo. I have about $10K in savings, and if I sell my condo, I'll net about $30-40K. Average price for a SMF in this area is $500-600K. 

The part that scares me the most is if I sell my condo and my offer on a new SMF doesn't get accepted, I could be in limbo. Not to mention, not sure what I would do with my roommate if things didn't pan out. Also, if I do get a SMF, I won't be able to pay the mortgage on my own. I'd have to rely on tenants because I don't make enough to cover the mortgage on a SMF in this area.

My question is, would you take the chance of selling your primary to have enough funds to [hopefully] get an offer accepted and buy another property? 

[Justin V.]

@Nico Dandini

Is a smf a small multi family? If you can get approved for the loan, I’d ditch your condo and make the jump. The lender will likely factor at least partial rents of the other units into the underwriting, so that should help.

I also don’t care for condos and hoas though, so take my bias into account.