House Hacking in the Boston area - Possible?
Hi everyone! This is my first post after finding BP, and I’m excited to get involved. My partner & I are currently living and working in Boston, and getting ready to make a move to buy our first property in the next 3-6 months - but I could use some guidance. The market is insane here, and I’m trying to make sense of what the best path forward would be.
Here are some details on our situation:
- We both work in downtown Boston and bring in a combined annual income in the neighborhood of $220k. My credit score is around 740, his is in the 800s.
- Savings - I'm about to cash out some stock from my employer that should, after taxes, bring our savings up to $100-$120k.
- Expenses - Rent is costing us $30k/year. We live close to downtown Boston, and while the free commute is a huge plus, that's a huge chunk of cash I'd rather not be losing every year. Other expenses are about $25k left in student loan debt at a low rate with very manageable payments, and a small car payment.
The short version of this is that we both have healthy salaries, we have a good amount of savings after a lot of hard work, and we’re spending a lot of money on rent. The time feels right to do something, and we’d really like to house hack.
Anyone who knows the Boston market probably knows where I’m going with this… to stay anywhere near public transit to Boston, a multi-family in OK shape at best is probably going to cost $500k before any sort of rehab - if we’re lucky. A conventional loan would consume all of our cash, and we’d be a long ways from break-even on a duplex. Probably closer on a triplex, but they are extremely hard to find.
I think I have pretty tempered expectations. If we could stay in the area, house hack to offset at least a chunk of our mortgage payment, and start building equity, that would feel like a win vs. our current situation of burning $30k/year on rent. I’d love to hear from other BPers who know Boston -
- Is this just the nature of the Boston market right now? Anything sound off about what I’m seeing?
- Even if I could manage a down payment on a conventional loan, should I be considering FHA financing or a 203k loan on a property that needs work to retain some of my cash? Are these types of loans a competitive disadvantage in this market?
- Anything wildly different you’d be doing if you were me?
I’m open to any feedback on our situation. Trying to find the right path forward!