House Hacking vs Rental + Rent

[William Huston]

Hello All, 

Just wanted to get some feed back on a situation, recently my life had a lot of changes as i went through a divorce as some may understand, in that time i rented a very very small cheap place to stay while i got my life back together, since that has all cleared up and the dust has settled i have been looking to upgrade out of my current situation and possibly own another property instead of continue to rent. Most of the reason i have been renting is due to the fact that housing prices got a little out of control a year ago when i was ready to buy. 

Also about a year ago i scaled back from full time real estate agent to working at the hospital in a new career due to the fact i could acquire more stable income that exceeded what i was making on average as a realtor at the time. So as of lately i just been working as an agent part time with the occasional buyer, mostly fellow employees from my current hospital job. 

While working at this hospital i have come across many nurses and staff that come as temp staff based on a travel assignment and they constantly struggle to find a decent place to stay, so many  life out of hotels while they work here.. 

An idea i have been bouncing around is purchasing a larger 3+ house with plenty of parking very close to the hospital, since im single it would shorten my commute to work daily, also i could possibly rent some of the extra bedrooms at a platinum rate to the travel staff below the cost of staying in hotels, but the other side of me is saying maybe i should just buy another property purely as a rental and find somewhere closer to rent for myself. Either way im looking to move closer to my work due to the commute being up to 40 minutes each way when you work a 12+hr shift. 

[William Huston]

Originally posted by @Brian Ellis:

Renting bedrooms as opposed to full units is a whole different ball game. I would much rather buy a multi-family and have someone else at least cover a good portion of the mortgage while I fix it up and add equity. I have enough responsibility of my own.  I don't want to have to worry about making sure a dish is cleaned, or if the laundry is tied up. How would you figure in the utilities if you rented rooms? I would expect a 5 bedroom 4 bathroom to be off the charts. 

How come you aren't willing to go beyond a 20 minute drive? Or go without a garage? You are already 40 minutes away now, what would the difference be? You could also buy one of those car tents for a few years to keep the muscle car enclosed. A lot of times we get comfortable with our current situation (including myself). But if we want to get closer to our ultimate goal, we have to make some sacrifices.

The main reason i am looking for something closer to my job is due to working a 12-14hr shift multiple days in a row, the physical demanding side of things causes you to become exhausted at the end of the shift to the point that i have found myself having to pull off the road to wake up on the long ride home that i currently drive, plus the fuel expense adds up over time when you drive 70 miles round trip each day you work... I rented the place i am renting now back when i was working as a realtor full time while attending school part time. When i was a realtor working 12+ hours, it was very different at the time.