Flip or Muti Family House Hack

[Maurice Lyle]

I’m looking for a bit of advice, seems I have a slight dilemma. I'm currently on the market for a home in NJ. I was leasing an apartment on the Hudson with views of the Statue of Liberty and NYC skyline for close to $4000 per month. I've decided once my lease is up I would not renew. Going forward I would like to pocket some or possibly all of that money and use it to invest in RE. My ideal situation would be to house hack a 3 or 4 family home and use the money I'm saving by house hacking to get a second home and apply the brrrr strategy. I've been using the calculators to evaluate potential deals for the house hack. However it seems likes the best deals are in neighborhoods I wouldn't necessarily want to live in even if it’s only for a year or so. Also when I do come across good deals in ok areas the house tends to go a little quicker than I can get my contractor to check out the property. I work full time so I don't have a lot of time to spare. The second option would be to do a flip. It seems like it may be easier, I can't say I'm sure about that being this is my first go round but my realtor mentioned a single family fixer upper may be easier to come across than a nice priced multi-family because a lot of people are looking to house hack.

So the question is, should I hold out for my ideal situation as far as the house hack is concerned or do I just attempt to do the flip? By the way I'm financing using the 203k loan. Any advice would be extremely helpful.

[Louise A.]

@Maurice Lyle 

I vote for house hacking!  Much less risky than flipping.  Stay in the market.  Look at everything.  Don't get discouraged.  When the right deal comes up you'll be ready to move quickly.  This is a tough market to buy in but house hacking is a great strategy and worth the wait!