Trying to House hack!

[Zachery T Moore]

First time home buyer and wanting to house hack, found a great duplex for sale in a thriving little town that is off market! It’s a two story house that has been turned into a duplex, with the top half having its own entrance.  One unit is rent ready and been remodeled, the other half is livable just not remodeled. How do I go about trying to find comps with one unit being remodeled and the other not and if it’s at or below or maybe above market value on what their asking price is? Not many duplex’s in the area either that has been recently sold for comps. 

[Sasha Mohammed]

you can always hire an independent appraiser. its cheaper if you go direct through an appraiser (check yelp) as opposed to an AMC which lenders will require. its not a bad idea to spend a few hundred bucks to get some un-bias opinions while you do your due-diligence, just know that if you go with traditional financing to any degree, the lender will not use your appraiser for their purposes and require you to get another one through their AMC's.

Another avenue - realtors/ real estate salespeople should be able to get you good comps, but they will want to represent you on the purchase since that's how they get paid. i say this since you mentioned your potential deal is off-market, that leads me to believe you probably don't intend to work with an agent. 

Hope this was helpful to some degree! 

[Zachery T Moore]

Quote from @Sasha Mohammed:

you can always hire an independent appraiser. its cheaper if you go direct through an appraiser (check yelp) as opposed to an AMC which lenders will require. its not a bad idea to spend a few hundred bucks to get some un-bias opinions while you do your due-diligence, just know that if you go with traditional financing to any degree, the lender will not use your appraiser for their purposes and require you to get another one through their AMC's.

Another avenue - realtors/ real estate salespeople should be able to get you good comps, but they will want to represent you on the purchase since that's how they get paid. i say this since you mentioned your potential deal is off-market, that leads me to believe you probably don't intend to work with an agent. 

Hope this was helpful to some degree! 

Thank you! Could I also possibly compare it to single family homes that are the same beds/baths and SQFT? 

[Sasha Mohammed]

you could, but i suspect you wouldn't get accurate data that way. is the house legally permitted now as a duplex? if-so, you should be looking at duplexes as comps. 

[Zachery T Moore]

Quote from @Sasha Mohammed:

you could, but i suspect you wouldn't get accurate data that way. is the house legally permitted now as a duplex? if-so, you should be looking at duplexes as comps. 

Yes ma’am it is, it’s just only two other duplex’s that is in the town, but thank you for your help and info! 

[Reid Chauvin]

@Zachery T Moore - I would recommend partnering with a realtor who is familiar with the area for your first home purchase. They can help you get in the ballpark of the market value, (though this sounds like a pretty unique property), as well as the rental value, and they can also help with putting together a competitive offer on the home and ensuring you CYA. 

What you are willing to offer should also probably be dictated by your plan for the home - if you are planning to put a mortgage on the home and hold it long-term, then will your rental income cover your debt to an extent that is satisfactory to you? A realtor should be able to help you pin down rental comps as well. 

[Zachery T Moore]

Quote from @Reid Chauvin:

@Zachery T Moore - I would recommend partnering with a realtor who is familiar with the area for your first home purchase. They can help you get in the ballpark of the market value, (though this sounds like a pretty unique property), as well as the rental value, and they can also help with putting together a competitive offer on the home and ensuring you CYA. 

What you are willing to offer should also probably be dictated by your plan for the home - if you are planning to put a mortgage on the home and hold it long-term, then will your rental income cover your debt to an extent that is satisfactory to you? A realtor should be able to help you pin down rental comps as well. 

Okay thank you! 

[Eliott Elias]

Look at comps that are full market value fixed up, determine how much work and money is needed to fix the top unit and crunch your numbers. Make sure the rents you're collecting from the other unit cover the mortgage or at least a good portion of it.