Newbie wants to house hack in Suffolk!
Hi my name is Hunter Burrell and I'm looking to house hack a small multi-unit property (most likely duplex) here on Long Island. I'm currently renting the upstairs of a house in Huntington Station for $850 (utilities included), but am interested in house hacking to live as close to free as possible, while building equity and learning about property management. Based on several posts in this thread it seems like Suffolk would be the best for my first house hack mainly for property tax reasons.
Ideally, of course I'd love to find a property that I can add value to, such as adding an extra bedroom/half bathroom with the extra sq ft on the lot, but don't now how realistic this is due to building codes around here and also lack of any experience (I know next to nothing about estimating rehab costs). What are the best ways to force appreciation in Suffolk on duplexes or other small multi? Or should I be staying away from projects like this for my first property and focus on finding something that doesn't need too much work that would still slightly cash flow (when I'm not living there), and has a potential to appreciate naturally? Is it even possible on the island to find cash flowing properties without putting major work into them?
I feel like some areas in Huntington Station are bound to appreciate significantly over the next 5 years because they are in close proximity to the attractive areas of Huntington, Lloyd Harbor, Cold Spring Harbor, Dix Hills, Greenlawn etc, yet it has much more upside than those already established areas. Keep in mind this is coming from a real estate newbie, but I see different complexes being built around here and it just feels like Huntington Station will start "catching up" a bit to the surrounding areas, which would make it a decent place to buy and hold. Any opinions on that?
I'm new to deal analysis, but from pro forma data on sites like Zillow I'm able to find some multi units from around $300k-$500k that might meet my criteria in Huntington Station, Centereach, Patchogue, Deer Park, Ronkonkoma, and others. Some of these listings seem like good deals but I think I'm underestimating the amount of work that will need to be put into it. I know I can possibly get a 203k loan which would bundle the rehab costs in, but once again I'm just not sure if I should be going for something that needs to much work anyways.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my long winded post, and I'd greatly appreciate any feedback you might have for me!