All Forum Posts by: Matthew Tussing

@Emily Howlett I actually already have an agent I’m working with. Do you happen to know any good property managers in the area? I’m not going to need them while I’m living there but I will when I move out in a few years and wanted to start putting out feelers now. Thanks again!

@Pat Lulewicz Thanks for your response! You might be right and I'm being overly optimistic about actually cash flowing a house hack in this area. I've been reading Craig Curelop's book on house hacking and he provides examples of people actually making cash flow on their house hacks and not just covering their expenses but again that can't necessarily be done in any market, particularly when you have certain standards about your own living conditions. 

@Emily Howlett thanks for your response! Basically, in order to break even on PITI with a 0 down VA Loan on a $150k 3 bedroom ($910/month), I would need to find a place that rents for at least $1.36k, so charging my roommates around $460/month plus utilities. I haven't found anything that hits that criteria yet.

Most of the places that suite my price range rent for closer to $1.2k. At $1.2k, monthly revenue=800; Monthly expenses=1060 (PITI+$150 for reserves); Cash flow= -260. So even with this rent to PITI ratio not where I want it, I would still be saving money each month on rent and gaining equity in the house. That being said, I would like to completely cover PITI by my rent income.

I need to get more numbers from a lender regarding how much my PITI would drop if I put say 15% down (I can't afford much more than that), and I'm sure it wouldn't drop by as much as $260, but it could help me hit my goal of completely covering PITI with my rent income.

I don't have enough capital at this point to invest in real estate outside of house hacking so my other investing ideas would be in the stock market (mutual funds and EFTs). I haven't done a comparison over what my expected returns would be if I put my money there instead of real estate, but the cool thing about house hacking with the 0 down VA loan is that I'm not even really putting my money anywhere, I'm having my roommates payoff my mortgage and saving on monthly living costs. Then if I move out in a few years I can actually start cash flowing.

Thanks again for your help. You definitely helped me think through this problem! 

Hello!

My name is Matthew Tussing and I recently moved to Jacksonville, NC (I'm a Marine stationed at Camp Lejuene). I'm brand new to real estate but eager to get started on my journey. I'm interested in buying a 3 bedroom single family home or townhouse to house hack in Sneads Ferry or Holly Ridge. I already have to buddies lined up to be my first tenants. 

Given rent and home prices on 3 bedrooms in the area, it seems like it would be difficult to make a solid cash flow renting out two rooms with a 0 down VA Loan. The VA Loan seems like a great option, but could it make sense for me to look for something else where I can put down some cash and find lower payments? Just trying to do a sanity check here.

Thank you! 

@Sean Reaver did you ever find a good PM? I just got stationed here and am interested in house hacking a SFR but want to find a good PM for when I'm on deployments/PCS.