Havertown, PA · Member since 2017 · 4 posts · 3 votes
I am a college student living in the Philadelphia area. Have been very interested in real estate investing for a few years now. Spent the last couple years working, reading, and listening to podcast about real estate. I am starting to look for my first deal, and very interested in possibly house hacking for my first investment. Any suggestions for me? I would love to hear anyone's input. Thank you.
Find a nice duplex in your area where one side pays the mortgage for both sides and live for free. You might want to call some for rent ads in your area and see if any of those people will sell you a house. You can find burned out landlords and people who wanted to sell but failed this way. Either of those groups are ripe for a creative finance offer which will cashflow without you having to make much if any down payment.
Find a nice duplex in your area where one side pays the mortgage for both sides and live for free. You might want to call some for rent ads in your area and see if any of those people will sell you a house. You can find burned out landlords and people who wanted to sell but failed this way. Either of those groups are ripe for a creative finance offer which will cashflow without you having to make much if any down payment.
@Cameron Jordan House hacking a great way to break into real estate investing. As @Josh Caldwell stated living in one side while you rent out, and hopefully have, the other unit(s) pay your mortgage is a win-win situation. However I would always suggest to seek out a Realtor in your area that has a proven track record working with Investors and specifically with multi-family units. I say this for 2 reasons, 1) they should know what areas will likely provide you good returns and have strong rental markets and 2) you will always want an advocate you can trust, that is bound by law and a code of ethics from NAR (The National Association of Realtors). I wish you the best in your endeavors.
Josh Caldwell and Gary Swank thanks a lot for your input. As a new guy hearing some advice from people who have been in the game keeps the positivity up. 👍🏽
If you haven't already, you may want to look into attending our local REIA group - DIG (Diversified Investor Group). It's a great place for networking, seeing national experts/speakers and just getting educated in the Real Estate space.
Their main meetings are in Ambler, PA but they also have subgroups all over the South Eastern PA region - including a monthly subgroup meeting in Delaware County. Going to DIG and other local REI meetings/meetups (like DPI - Delco Property Investors) was a game changer for me and expanded my network like crazy and opened up a lot of doors.
Also, I'm always a fan of the housing hacking/buying intentionally idea! I even wrote an in-depth article about on the site:
Hey @Cameron Jordan, welcome to Biggerpockets! Great suggestions so far from everyone here. I'm also a big fan of househacking. Typically the numbers I've seen, duplex in Delaware county you may end up paying a bit out of pocket, triplex you can usually net a bit of cashflow while living there, quadplex typically should cashflow as you live there. Either way, it is an excellent way to dip your toes into real estate investing.
I purchased a triplex last year as my first home and investment property and am so glad I did. It's been a great learning experience and I've made a lot of good industry contacts along the way while renovating it. Coupled with the fact that someone is paying for my housing...great way to get started. Shoot me a message if you want to chat or have any questions.
Welcome to BP. @Dave Van Horn is being rather modest there - he is the featured speaker at tonight's DIG meeting in Ambler. You should come, even if just to check him out.