All Forum Posts by: Kelly Coca

Hey Kelly,

First off, starting out with house hacking is an amazing idea. Many people speak on "living for free" while house hacking, but that will not be the case in many markets, especially the expensive ones. Some things you should focus on instead are:

1) If you house hacked, would your cost of living be the same or cheaper than if you owned a single family or rented?

2) Once you leave your house hack, will it cash flow enough to cover all your debt, capex savings, reserves and repairs? 

If your answer to both of those is yes, then I think it is worth house hacking in your market, even though it is expensive. While you may not see massive cashflow, you will benefit from appreciation and the other benefits of real estate over time as you are probably in a more desirable area. 

As for FHA loans on duplexes vs triplexes, there really is no difference between the two other than the price point and what you are qualified for. FHA loans are a little pricy themselves as they have some upfront fees and mortgage insurance would be added to your monthly payment as well. But, thats not a reason to not utilize an FHA loan. If this is your first home purchase, you should consider a first time homebuyer loan instead which may still offer the same low down payment option as an FHA, but be much cheaper in the long run.

I hope this was helpful to you and reach out if you have any questions.

Good Luck!

Hi @Kelly Coca House Hacking has worked out great for me and my wife in NJ.  It got us to financial freedom.  At the of the day there are those who think it cant be done then there are those of us who go out and do it.  When we first started there were more people saying its not possible then those saying it is.  Fortunately we aligned with the people that were house hacking, repeated their systems and put ourselves in a great spot in relatively short period of time.  Fast forward a few years we are hearing the same story from the people on the side lines