Should I House Hack or Rehab a Home First? IT Grad Making $75K Need Strategy Help!

Question

Hey everyone,

I’m a senior at the University of Georgia studying Management Information Systems (MIS) at the Terry College of Business. I’ll be graduating soon and plan to work as a Solutions Consultant in IT, likely starting out with a salary of around $70–80 K. I’ve been exploring real estate content, networking on LinkedIn, and joining calls with experienced investors to figure out the most effective way to get started.

Here’s where I’m at:

• My girlfriend and I will rent at first while I get settled in my job.
• My long-term goal is to build a rental portfolio by living in homes, then turning them into rentals when I move out.
• I’m trying to decide if I should:


Buy a single-family home, live in it for a few years, rehab it while living there, then rent it out when I move; or


House hack a duplex or triplex from the start. The challenge is finding something nice enough that my girlfriend would also be comfortable living in.
• Buy a single-family home, live in it for a few years, rehab it while living there, then rent it out when I move; or
• House hack a duplex or triplex from the start. The challenge is finding something nice enough that my girlfriend would also be comfortable living in.

My girlfriend and I will rent at first while I get settled in my job.

My long-term goal is to build a rental portfolio by living in homes, then turning them into rentals when I move out.

I’m trying to decide if I should:

• Buy a single-family home, live in it for a few years, rehab it while living there, then rent it out when I move; or
• House hack a duplex or triplex from the start. The challenge is finding something nice enough that my girlfriend would also be comfortable living in.

Buy a single-family home, live in it for a few years, rehab it while living there, then rent it out when I move; or

House hack a duplex or triplex from the start. The challenge is finding something nice enough that my girlfriend would also be comfortable living in.

Some other questions I’m wrestling with:

Should I save for a second down payment while living in the first property and keep it as a rental when I move out?

• Where should I save for my first down payment? A money market account (for liquidity and safety), or something like ETFs if I’m not buying for 1–2 years?
• Would it help to work part-time in real estate (like an agent or assistant) to learn the ropes, or can I learn enough through self-education and BiggerPockets while working my W2 IT job?

Where should I save for my first down payment? A money market account (for liquidity and safety), or something like ETFs if I’m not buying for 1–2 years?

Would it help to work part-time in real estate (like an agent or assistant) to learn the ropes, or can I learn enough through self-education and BiggerPockets while working my W2 IT job?

Would love to hear how others navigated these trade-offs early on. What would you do differently if you could start over?

Thanks in advance!
– Alex Quinlan

Denise Supplee · Answer

House hacking a duplex or triplex is ideal if you can find one that meets your needs, it builds experience, lowers your cost of living, and gets you rental income from day one. If that’s not feasible, starting with a live-in rehab can still build equity and teach you valuable renovation and landlord skills. While living in the first property, saving aggressively for your next down payment is smart, use a high-yield savings or money market account for safety and flexibility, but ETFs can work if your timeline is 2+ years and you’re comfortable with some risk.

Also consider getting pre-approved now to understand your buying power, and start analyzing deals regularly to sharpen your instincts. Joining local meetups or shadowing a realtor can give you firsthand insights, and working part-time in real estate could help—but it’s not necessary if you stay consistent with self-education, podcasts, and networking. You might also explore house hacking with creative setups like renting out a basement, garage apartment, or even short-term rentals if your girlfriend prefers more privacy.

Randall Alan · Answer

@Alex Quinlan

I would suggest house hack because it will probably pay most if not all your rent, which will let you save more money toward your next objective.. The landlord part of it is really pretty easy, as long as you realize that you need some reserve funds to be able to fix things if they break in the units.if you simply buy a house and live in it while you fix it up, you’ll be paying all the rent yourself.

If safety of your principle is paramount for you, I would suggest a  high yield savings account. They’re currently paying 4.3% at a place like Bask Bank and the like. Just be sure to go with one that is FDIC insured.

Regarding the stock market, the way the current market is, the executive branch of the government  could easily impact your principal by 20% in  a single day if they make some wacky tariff decision, etc.  It will usually recover, but you don’t know how long it will take. You just have to weigh the risk of knowing that you could temporarily lose  some principal if you decide to put it in the market.  The HYSA is a good holding place.  You won’t make much on your money, but you won’t lose any either.

All the best!

Randy

Aaron Zimmerman · Answer

House hack and ideally rehab that same house hack. You can make anything nice enough but you might need to get a 203k loan. Just starting out, you won't have a lot of contacts so it's important to build those while house hackjng

Brendan Mullenholz · Answer

You're heading in the right direction with investing young.  My first property I bought was a live in rehab (1bd/1ba) and it was a bit of bear but a workable bear.  I was by myself and I'm pretty sure my gf would have left me if she was there during it.  That being said house hacking is a great way to start and keep your living expenses low and have something to rent out later.  If you do a a living rehab make sure it's something that you can handle or have others handle for you.  and goes without saying use communication with your gf on it. Good luck!

Jules Aton · Answer

Smart to rent until you are settled with your jobs. I started in RE with a rehab loan on a row house that I lived in while renovating in an up and coming inner city neighborhood. I didn't have a ton of money, wanted to build equity and didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. It has always been important for me to have an easy out so just be mindful that multifamily properties generally cost more initially and can be tougher to sell than single family.

Callie Perciful · Answer

Hey Alex. I graduated from UGA 2 years ago and just bought my first house in Atlanta. Would love to connect sometime!

Marc Winter · Answer

@Alex Quinlan, you are already heading in the right direction! So, congratulations!

1. Live-in renovations are a bear.  If there are even minor cracks in your relationship with your girlfriend, try living surrounded by building supplies, buckets, tools, dust, and inconvenience, and those cracks can break open!  It's a great experience to do a live-in reno once so you'll know you won't want a 'next time'.

2.  I'd go for a duplex to start.  Have a stable home base, and work on the other side as needed.  Also, you'll need the tax breaks owning a rental will bring, as opposed to living in a single family.

3.  At the starting phase, always be saving for the next deal.  Once the ball is rolling, you'll learn to move the money around, because keeping it in a savings account will cost you about 10% reduction in buying power every year.  You'll learn to leverage borrowed funds and keep your money moving.  You can earn about 4.25% in SGOV etf that I've found to be very liquid.

4.  Working in Real estate:  Yes!  The experience and 'inside' knowledge you'll get can supercharge your success in this business.

Let us know about your progress!  Good Luck!

Helen Adeosun · Answer

Hi Alex Im so jealous, what a great start and I wish I'd started 20 years ago. I'm a newbie, so I'd be curious what more experienced investors said but I also live in Georgia. Please follow up with what you end up doing. I think you can learn through podcasts and personal finance books/audiobooks. Chatgpt has been the best teacher and I love the consistency of a W2 while I learn.

I used an FHA loan at 3.5% to get started plus savings and an IRA Roth loan to get a single family fixer upper at under market in 2023 (negotiate hard and well) for 393K.

My real estate agent was like a dog with a bone and helped me visit houses and brought me two finalists. I was looking for separate entry as multifamilies are hard to come by.

However, I wish I'd waited it out for more units but live and learn. The upside of owner occupied is (FHA required at least 1 year) is in GA you can claim the homestead exemption so have offset property taxes and thus my mortgage/escrow reduction.

I used my savings to fix up the downstairs and now rent it out and plan to look into zoning the top and eventually an ADU in the back (my county right now requires the owner lives in the ADU but that can change).

If I had to do it again:

1. Maximize the amount of units and get more if you can in fact a personal finance podcast recommends a creative hack with a potential partner — you both get a home under separate FHA loans if you can swing it. This definitely works for people more established but once/if you get married you only get one FHA as a married couple. Married and two rentals 🙌?!

2. Maximize your cashflow strategy — I came in originally with a LTR strategy and MTR works better and cash-flow. Research Airbnb and BP and chatgpt what options work well.

3. I initially started studying to be a real estate professional and the ROI just wasn't there for me. I learned more house hacking and getting a rental off the ground, driving for dollars, and from other people/mentors. I'll come back to being a real estate professional for the tax offset once my portfolio gets more sizeable.

4. Cash and access to cash is king right now. I had cash in my ETFs and I would have been better off just keeping it in my high yield given I was planning on buying within 16 months.

All the best and please update!

Should I House Hack or Rehab a Home First? IT Grad Making $75K Need Strategy Help!

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