Real estate rookie looking for advice on east coast (nj, ny, pa, ri, ct, md, dc)

[Robert Westenberger]

Hi 

About me: I am a 33 year old single male in the south jersey area. I work remotely as a software engineer, I currently make $105k / year. I have $80k liquid in CDs and savings accounts in the bank and a credit score between 760 - 780. I live alone in my parent's beach house and I don't pay any rent whatsoever, only utilities.

Since I work from home I think house hacking would suit me since I can live on the property and perform some of the easier maintenance tasks myself. I plan on taking some introductory classes for plumbing + electrical + carpentry + ??? so I can eventually do some repairs myself.

I am wondering if there is any market in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, or Washington DC that would "make sense" to house hack given my financial position? Is it still possible to snag a reasonably successful house hack in these areas? I am not looking for the perfect deal, I just want something that will improve my financial position better than just dumping all my money in a high yield savings account or something.

I don't need to live in the nicest place. I am really just looking to avoid the worst of the worst areas (anywhere with open air drug markets or active gang warfare / prolific violent crimes). If there are any crimes being committed, the person committing them should be me (that's a joke). I'd prefer a more suburban area but I could honestly live anywhere, as long as its not too bad.

I just finished reading "The House Hacking Strategy" by Craig Curelop, and I think that gave me some good introductory knowledge on house hacking, but I know that I still have to do a lot more research.

[Jonathan Greene]

Can you stay where you are? If you can live for free and only pay utilities AND buy an investment property, that would be ideal in terms of savings and cash flow.

If you can't stay and your parents want to make some money on that property, then yes, house hacking would be your best option especially since you don't want the best place in the multi. You should look for uneven multis (more bedrooms in one than the other) so you can stay in the smaller unit and cash flow more off the other rentals.

Location wise, of all of those areas, Pennsylvania or staying in South Jersey gives you the best bang for your buck. If you want a city, Philly can be done if you know where the blocks break. If you want something more suburban, towns like Easton, E Stroudsburg, and into Lehigh Valley may still have some options less than those other areas.