House Hack Success in Clearwater, FL
Hello BP,
I'm now six months into my blended house hack (cash flow + appreciation, its a @Ben Leybovich thing). Thought I would share our success so far and some before/after pictures.
We purchased our house in an up and coming Clearwater, FL neighborhood that is very close to the Pinellas trail (a great biking/walking trail that runs the length of our county and is a huge feature in our parts) and just 2 miles from booming downtown Dunedin, FL with tons of great restaurants, breweries, shops, and festivals. We originally were looking in Dunedin but prices have appreciated so much there the last few years I got nervous about a bubble. Anyway, we settled on our neighborhood due to it having many of the same great character as higher priced neighborhoods close by. Did I mention we have a view of the water from the back patio and a kayak launch at the park across the street? :)
The house itself is an old house by Florida standards (1937 construction), but we prefer the character of older homes. Its had some renovations over the past few years but was painted horribly and staged even worse so it sat on the market for a while. Asking price started at $250k and we were able to watch some price drops and eventually negotiate a purchase of $215k with a further 2k concession after inspection. We took out a 3.5% down FHA loan with a 3.75% interest rate.
Aside from the potential in the neighborhood we were attracted to this particular house because of its attached in-law suite that would make a perfect short term rental.
After moving in the beginning of October we got started sprucing up the in-law. In all we spent about 5k on renovations including new bathroom items, pulling up carpet and refinishing the original hardwoods, freshening the kitchen, installing a "shiplap" wall feature. Another $1100 went into furnishings, decorations and odds and ends to make it an attractive AirBnB.
Our first week renting it was over Christmas. Since then we have been booked pretty solid with only a few day gaps here and there. So far we have $12k in bookings through August. By the end of 2018 I'd estimate we will have closer to 18k.
Meanwhile we've gotten to live in the attached 4/2 house basically for free as monthly earnings have exceeded our $1417 PITI payment.
We've been making some improvements to our side of the house (some new windows, a/c ducting fix, new w/d, new dishwasher, lots of painting). But these are things we'd be doing on any house we bought anyway, nice to know that our little unit is paying for it!
Redfin currently has our property valued at $248k. Prices in the area continue to trend up and there are 7 townhouse units going up down the block and each is asking $375k. Overall I'm bullish on the area and look forward to re-investing our rental earnings into more property in the next year.
Here are some before and afters of the in-law: