All Forum Posts by: Charles Heuer

Could you please give some details about these properties? Size, number of rooms, price, location, etc.? In the future I wish to move to Phoenix and "house hack" with a MFH property, so this is all interesting to me.

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Originally posted by @Wes Blackwell:

@Charles Heuer

@Aaron K. nailed it... house hacking is a viable strategy in any market. The only thing that changes is the price and the amount left over to pay at the end of the month.

The real goal of house-hacking is to reduce your monthly obligation to the mortgage payment, essentially allowing you to control a property for far less per month than would normally be required.

If you're getting a duplex, you're more than likely still going to have to come out of pocket at the end of the month, but that also depends on how much you're putting down.

With a fourplex, your goal should be to get as close to living in the property for free is possible. You're probably not going to end up with any cashflow, but if all the bills can be paid and you can live in one unit for under $500/month, you've likely shaved at least $1,000 off your monthly payment by renting out the other units, and can use that $1,000 in savings every month to save for the next property or make improvements to the current property and increase it's value and get more rents.

The real problem with this projection is that no one has a real estate crystal ball, and far too much can happen with the economy and politics in the next 2-3 years to be able to accurately tell you what the experience will be like in Phoenix.

A real easy way to experiment with this would be to look up 2-4 unit multifamily properties on Realtor.com or MLS, see what the units are renting for, deduct one of the unit's rents for you to live in, and then use a simple loan calculator to see what your monthly PITI would be vs. the gross rents. This is the same thing I do with investors looking in Phoenix, Stockton, Sacramento, etc. so the process is essentially the same no matter what market you're in.

Good advice, thank you very much. Since you have experience in the region, would you say that potential tenants seek out MFH (2/3/4-plex) rentals over traditional , largeapartment complexes or SFH rentals?

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I currently live in Philadelphia, PA and my goal within the next 2-3 years is to relocate to Phoenix, AZ. I am interested in achieving some level of financial independence with "house hacking," which seems entirely doable in Philadelphia but not so much in Phoenix. I am approaching this casually at the moment, but it seems that the number of multi-family homes in the Phoenix and surrounding areas are very limited -- I guess it's a difference of culture or the fact that land is so cheap in the southwest that there isn't much demand for a duplex/triplex/4-plex.

At any rate, I'd like to hear from anyone who has invested in this region. How did you find you find multi-family properties? What were the specs of the property and how much did you pay? What are the rents like, and did you face any major challenges that were unique to the region? If it helps any, I would be a first-time home owner and I would most likely purchase the property with an FHA 203k loan. I have decent credit (750ish at the moment) and I expect to have close to $20-30k cash set aside for the down payment.

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All Forum Posts by: Charles Heuer

Charles Heuer has started 1 posts and replied 3 times.

Post: Just closed on my second fourplex phoenix

Post: Phoenix, AZ region viable for house hacking?

Post: Phoenix, AZ region viable for house hacking?