House Hacking in HOTlanta

[Brenden Mitchum]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Tucker.

Purchase price: $380,000
Cash invested: $8,785

First house hack in Atlanta. Cash invested includes out of pocket renovation costs. Living in 1x1.5 mother-in-law suite while renting out 3x2 bd main house. Rent is $100 greater than PITI. Will cash flow around $400/mo once we move out and rent out our side. Also includes a small 1x1 suite that could be added to either side or used independently to generate further income.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

House hacking is a no-brainer for anyone but is especially essential for younger investors trying to get started in the world of real estate. Reducing expenses and increasing income is the name of the game in the beginning and house hacking does exactly that.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found it on the MLS. Overlooked it for about a month actually and when I finally realized the potential it was too late, the property was already under contract. However, I was in close communication with the listing agent who was not confident in the current contract sticking. So I submitted a backup offer. Sure enough the buyers dropped it about a week later and we scooped it up. As an agent, I was able to negotiate some pretty aggressive terms for a sellers market.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional 5% owner-occupied

How did you add value to the deal?

Negotiated a seller concession of $8k during due diligence and used this plus my own cash to fix up the home. I did all of the smaller stuff myself and hired out what was out of my wheelhouse or would have taken too long to figure out.

What was the outcome?

Outcome was that we now live PITI free.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Oh man, too many to list. Most are related to the numerous small jobs I had to figure out with the help of the Google and Youtube. Renting a nicer home is also quite challenging in the winter (COVID probably did not help either). Also, pre-screening questionnaires are incredibly helpful when posting your listing on sites like Facebook Marketplace since there is a myriad of people who will just waste your time. This helps you keep within Fair Housing without wasting your time.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Worked with a pretty killer agent that helped me negotiate this deal ;)