Seattle House Hacking: Seeking Advice and Agent

[Barron Peper]

Hi everyone! I've been floating in the background for years, but am finally ready to start my real estate investment journey. I currently rent with five amazing housemates within a single family house in South Seattle, and want to recreate that model in a house that I own through House Hacking.

I'm looking for a Real Estate Agent and potentially investors (currently figuring out what friend/family support I can get.) I'm looking for a 3+ bedroom house in West/Central/South Seattle. I

I'm also an architect and pretty handy, so I am open to finding a house that can benefit from some TLC. 

Please reach out with any advice, cautions, words of wisdom, or resources to share! I'm hoping to become a PRO member here shortly. 

Cheers!

Barron

[Michael Haas]

@Barron Peper - Congrats on getting started! All of our 5 Seattle properties are in the West/Central/South Seattle triangle you mentioned, and we've found those areas to be extremely well suited for a house hack. Its a great strategy and it got us our first 3 properties, after which we were able to scale more traditionally to where we are today.

My two cents: Don't buy a 3 bed 2 bath unless there's an opportunity to add bedrooms through finishing a basement, converting a garage, or an attic. 3-2s are the most common and popular layout for families, and they sell at a premium. As a house hacker you should exclusively be looking for 5-2s or larger- in my experience, nothing else in Seattle is going to cashflow like you need it to. 

We have two active rehab projects right now in the neighborhoods you mentioned, and both would have made incredible first house hacks. Sometimes it helps to see the bones of a good house hack property to really give you an idea of what you're looking for, so if you'd like to grab a cup of coffee to go and do a walkthrough of either of those properties with me I'd be happy to show you around. Cheers!