Young Professional looking to House Hack - Where to begin?

Question

Hello!

My name's Chinda and I'm moving to start my first post-grad job in tech next month in Atlanta. I'll be renting an apartment with two of my buddies, but earlier this summer I learned about househacking and have been obsessed ever since. I'm trying to house hack my first property within the next 1-2 years.

In terms of what to do, how should I order/prioritize the following:

• Creating a savings plan
• Reading The House Hacking Strategy by Craig Curelop
• Getting in contact with a realtor in my area
• Building a team to help me
• Finding BiggerPockets members who have House Hacked in Atlanta before
• Additional steps I don't know / haven't considered

Please advise, thank you in advance!

Benjamin Aaker · Answer

• 1. Creating a savings plan
• 2. Decreasing personal expenses
• 3. Reading a lot but don't let it stop you from going forward
• 4. Generating a criteria you will use for finding properties
• 5. Getting in contact with a realtor in my area and Building a team to help me
• 6. Make those offers - the rest will follow

Paul Bunton · Answer

@Chinda Eleonu we house hacked right into our own house. 3 family pays for both. Save money, got to nerdwallet.com and find a good online bank, they have better rates. Sell stuff, find random jobs. We did rover.com which paid for a trip. It is worth it. B4 buying books, check out the library. Many ways to save money, walk places, coupons, bottles and cans, etc. Hope this helps.

Wendell Hubbard · Answer

@Chinda Eleonu Also make contact with some lenders to assess when and how much you will be able to qualify for with a loan.

If you need more than a year of work history to qualify then consider renting from someone who is house hacking next July so you can experience it from the tenant side and be better prepared if you decide to house hack.

Also consider your exit plan if you buy a house. Will you live there for a year then make it a rental and buy house 2 and hack it for a year then house 3 and so on? Will you put up with roommates until your income improves in a few years?

Jonathan Greene · Answer

Your most important steps are save, learn, and find an investor-friendly realtor who understands the metrics of house hacking and can help you find one that suits what you want. You could do a multi and have roommates in your side and rent the other or you could do a single-family house hack with room share, which is what a lot do with existing roommates. You are going to a market where the price points will be very good to accomplish this compared with many other metros around the country in my opinion.

Connor Cushman · Answer

Chinda - great stuff man. I like where your head is at. I'm in the north metro atlanta area if you want to connect. I recommend getting a nice little property that you can buy as a primary residence asap for little money down and get your buddies to rent out the rooms and cover your expenses. Once you get that ball rolling, your options open up and your confidence helps you scale

Michael Volek · Answer

@Chinda Eleonu

House hacking is a fantastic way to dip your toes into not only owning some real estate but also being a property manager. You'll have to treat it like a business from day one. I guess you could practice with the apartment you and your buddies rent. Like if you rent a 3 bed for 1500/mo, you could rent each bedroom to your buddies for 700 a piece making your living expenses $100/mo. The moment buddy #1 flakes on the rent, you'll know if a real house hack is for you. I would honestly suggest renting with your buddies and saving up as much as you'll need to purchase your first home. You can spend that year or whatever reading up as much as you can on the subject.

As far as your order, obviously you'll need to save as much money as you can and definitely educate yourself. BP has a good selection of you haven't already checked them out. You can talk to a realtor to find out about the areas and what you'll need to have in order to qualify for a loan (should you go the loan route) but other than that you should let them know upfront that you won't be purchasing anything for the moment.

Benjamin Aaker · Answer

@Chinda Eleonu The House Hacking Strategy by Curlop and Turner is a great way to get started.

Paul Bunton · Answer

@Chinda Eleonu check out marcus by goldman sachs. Easy interface with their website. Good rates overall. I wish I knew most of this stuff yrs ago so you are taking the right steps.

Chinda Eleonu · Answer

Thanks for the outline @Benjamin Aaker! Definitely need to prioritize the savings plan overall by decreasing my personal expenses. I'm going to try and finish Craig Curelop's book in a month's time so I can start taking action sooner. Could you recommend any additional house hacking / beginner REI books?

Chinda Eleonu · Answer

@Paul Bunton thank you for the advice! I will definitely be sure to try and save wherever I can for this down payment. Nerd wallet recommended One Finance Bank, since they have a high savings interest rate. If you don't mind me asking, what online bank do you use to save for these endeavors?

Young Professional looking to House Hack - Where to begin?

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