Looking to House Hack in Los Angeles Area

[Crystal Smith]

Hello! I'm waiting for escrow to close on my condo and my husband & I are looking to house hack in Los Angeles using the equity I gain from that plus what we have in savings. He is a Fix & Flip underwriter and I work in analytics in Culver City currently. Our goal is to house hack to start saving money faster so that we can start our BRRRR investing. There's a few neighborhoods/cities we are exploring including Mid-City, Culver City, Torrance, and Long Beach. Our goal is a triplex but we are new to multi-family so looking to network and learn as much as possible about strategies to buy in this area and what to avoid. Any feedback or help is welcome.

[Charles Renn]

Hi @Crystal Smith,

Congrats on nearly closing on your condo and welcome to Bigger Pockets! House hacking is a great way to leverage both your need for shelter as well as investing and building equity here in the SoCal market. It's great your husband is close to the industry. With rates just dropping a bit it's a great time to be looking at multi-family. There are a lot of variables involved in finding a good investment, but location is a good place to start. Besides working with a lot of investors myself, I can also introduce you to an investor friendly lender in the event you'd like to talk more strategy. Hope this helps!

[Scott Trench]

Quote from @Crystal Smith:

Hello! I'm waiting for escrow to close on my condo and my husband & I are looking to house hack in Los Angeles using the equity I gain from that plus what we have in savings. He is a Fix & Flip underwriter and I work in analytics in Culver City currently. Our goal is to house hack to start saving money faster so that we can start our BRRRR investing. There's a few neighborhoods/cities we are exploring including Mid-City, Culver City, Torrance, and Long Beach. Our goal is a triplex but we are new to multi-family so looking to network and learn as much as possible about strategies to buy in this area and what to avoid. Any feedback or help is welcome.

 @Crystal Smith Welcome to BP! The best thing you can do to get started is to talk to an investor friendly real estate agent in your local area. I'd advise meeting several. You might meet Charles here for coffee, and also connect with a few additional agents using the "Find an Agent" button at the top of your screen! 

[Sherri Stokes]

Crystal, welcome! I’m a Realtor in the Southbays, I’d love to help with your search. DM with your contact info.  Chat soon!

[Joshua Messinger]

Hey @Crystal Smith! 

I can't stress enough how important it is to find someone in your market that is familiar with how the market currently is and how it seems to be trending. Having a relationship like that can make your REI career sky rocket faster than you could ever imagine.

I hope this helps and if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to reach out! 

All the best,

Josh 

[Robert Reynolds]

Hi @Crystal Smith, 

I second everything @Scott Trench and @Charles Renn said prior. In addition I would focus on multi-family with vacant units or mostly vacant units, with occupied units that are paying close to market rent. When searching on the westside for multi-family, most of the one's you will find will have a tenant either paying no rent at all or rent around 50% less than market rent and that's why the house is still on the market. 

Another good option that is becoming popular is to find a house with a detached garage or a large backyard and build an adu. I live in Westchester by LAX and am currently building an ADU to house hack and help reduce my living expenses.

Hope this helps,

Robert

[Rick Albert]

Hey Crystal,

I'm a 2x house hacker here in Los Angeles and a case study in the House Hacking Strategy book published by Bigger Pockets.

What you want to do is doable but there are some nuances you need to be aware of (rent control, tenant occupancy etc.). Happy to discuss it further if you would like. 

What you are doing is a good strategy and an easier way to scale. Congrats!

-Rick