Probably a terrible time to buy a house but I just purchased my first home. It's a 3 story, 3 bed, 3 full bath townhouse in Vancouver WA. It is set up perfectly to rent out but I have to do some light work on it first, which I am looking forward to. After this I will either rent out some of the rooms or I will wait a few months and move out completely and give it over to a property manager. Minimum I can have it paying itself off with a tiny profit at first. It won't be hugely profitable at first but after PMI disappears and I refinance after a few years it will be pulling in a nice profit. Excited to start this journey.

Congratulations and welcome to real estate investing!

Hey Reed, 

It sounds like you've got a great house hack or BRRR going. If you are going for the BRRR strategy, it's important to put the home into "service" (meaning advertising it for rent) prior to doing your renovations. Otherwise, you can run into tax issues regarding your renovation. If you don't put it into service, then any repairs that you make will be capitalized instead of being expensed which creates depreciation recapture tax as opposed to expenses that reduce taxable income.

Cheers!

UPDATE: I might lose this property. While trying to figure out what the HOA covers so I know kind of insurance I needed to pay for, I may have uncovered a blatant case of seller fraud.

@Reed Lambier To lose the deal really sucks but to find out after closing about the assessment would have be a KILLER!! Good luck moving forward.

FURTHER UPDATE: The seller has decided they are entitled to my earnest money for catching them lying and backing out of the transaction. Lawyers are involved now and I will likely end up going to court. The brokers said this is one of the worst first time home buying experiences they have ever seen....awesome.

@Reed Lambier I know it’s only been a few days but I’m dying for an update

FURTHER FURTHER UPDATE: @Julian Delgado for legal purposes I shouldn't disclose any further information on this until things are settled. In a nutshell, things have gotten even more ********ty'er. I'll update this thread with a more comprehensive update as soon as I am able. 

@Reed Lambier Well we wish you the best of luck my friend.

FINAL UPDATE: The seller tried to sue me for my earnest money. After they realized I was fully prepared to take them to court they backed down last second and I ended up getting my earnest money back. I still lost the $1200 for the appraisal and the inspection but the real estate company I was going through (CANO) paid for my lawyer because they realized they royally messed up and failed to catch this lawsuit as well so at least I didn't have to pay for any legal services. The Principal Real Estate Agent apologized and said this was one of the worst first time home buying experiences he had ever seen. So all-in-all the nightmare is over. Lost 2.5 months of my life but it could have been a lot worse had I bought this property and that special assessment landed in my lap. Real Estate....not so much fun thus far.....

Sorry you had to go through that! Wish you best moving forward.  Thankfully you caught that on time!