House Hacking Northern VA

[Domenick Murphy]

Hi everyone,

My name is Domenick, and I recently moved to Arlington, VA about a year ago for my job in medical sales. I enjoy living in the area and am now looking to take the next step and purchase a small multi-family property where I can house hack.

I'm looking for a property in the Arlington or surrounding areas. If anyone has any leads or suggestions for properties that may be a good fit, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

[Lexie De Stefano]

Hi Domenick, congrats on taking your next step! I'm sure other folks will have all kinds of additional insight, but I'd offer that multi-family properties in Arlington at a relatively decent price are hard to find. For a traditional multifamily property, you'll probably need to look in DC itself for a reasonable price point. However, you can easily keep an eye out for either a single family home that you can create an in-law suite (whether in the basement, or converting a family room or other separate area of the house) or even a townhouse with a walkout exit that could have the bottom floor serve as an in-law suite. You can also build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that's completely separate from the main single family home, but the permitting process in Arlington is a hot mess- my neighbor a couple houses down had his ADU permit take 13 months...so up to you on what's worth your time. I currently househack using the in-law suite method and also rent out rooms in the main part of my house, happy to connect if you have questions or want additional ideas of how to make something work!