All Forum Posts by: Aaron Zimmerman

@Carolina Selva Mark’s podcast is really great. I’ve learned a ton from it - lot of gems.

Just be aware of local laws. It’s very important.

You have two levers that you can pull from: interest rate and insurance. I would recommend fiddling with interest rate first. I would buy the rate down and then bring more cash to close if you absolutely need to. I would also work with your insurance agent to bring down the rate. You can change it within a few months. I had to pull both these levers and bring a little more cash to close. If it's a good opportunity, I would highly recommend pulling these especially if it's a good deal. Please let me know if I can be of any value and PM me. 

On the maintenance, capex I would use more as well. Completely agree with Stephen. Something is going to come up. I would probably go with 8-9%. 10% seems like a bit much 

I would say it's not reasonable to eliminate it because you should be thinking of paying for it yourself and at some point you won't want to manage. 

As for tips, I would highly recommend that you can find something that has rents at $1,000 more than the mortgage. That way you can comfortably afford any expenses. I don't know how realistic that is in your market.

Best of luck and feel free to reach out. I'm doing my first house hack in Chicago. I've learned a ton and would be happy to assist. 

Meryl- thank you very much for your insights. I really appreciate hearing these things. I hope everyone will make it and also not be getting on substances. Trying times for everybody for sure. 

@John Warren - well done on the 28 doors! Why's it hard to find a deal there?

I would first recommend finding a lower priced property if possible. I would also try to increase your income as well. Easy ways that I do it are bank hacking. Banks offer promos of $200-400. In my area, I'm able to generate about $1,500 a year. I would also recommend getting a side hustle as well. This could potentially help with DTI down the line.

I would also recommend having some cash reserves as well in case you don't have tenants. You can certainly house hack but your options may be a bit limited. 

Feel free to reach out. I'm doing my first house hack now. 

Don't rush into getting a deal. With that being said, do be proactive and perhaps try to find a deal yourself. In the meantime, keep learning your market, analyzing deals, and stacking cash. 

After talking with many people, it seems like Berwyn is a great spot to invest in. Large tenant pool and the multi-family inventory is plentiful.

I 100% agree with Darius. I would make sure you have adequate reserves (3-6 months expenses) plus purchase price and rehab costs. Based on the markets you described, you may want to save a bit more. Reserves keep you in the game. By starting out young, you're already ahead. Best of luck and let me know if I can be a resource in any way. I just purchased my first house hack in December. 

I would recommend at least telling them to not smoke in the unit. However, if they do pay timely, I probably wouldn't make waves unless you're ready to replace the tenant. Best of luck!