All Forum Posts by: Marie C.

My husband and I are first time homebuyers. Our current plan is to buy a 2 bedroom condo in Concord, live there for a few years, and then turn it into a rental. My brother in law will also be living with us. Our budget is tight because we are putting both of my brothers in law through college. So we really want this to be a good investment rather than solely a place to live. I was hoping to find a place that needs some cosmetic work but has AC and in unit laundry. But I am realizing I may need a make a few more compromises.

Our realtor says that it's difficult to find a complex without rental restrictions in Concord. There are a few but those HOAs also seem to have poorer external maintenance and landscaping. Our agent seems to think we should just plan to live in the unit for at least 7 years. But I am concerned that we may need to move for work sooner than that. And I want to ultimately buy another property in a few years. We have been searching every weekend for about a month and have only put in one offer so far that was out bid. I would very much appreciate any advice.

Thank you very much for your responses. I will definitely continue researching options you both mentioned. We also plan to keep increasing our savings which may help open more options.

My husband I make about 140k total per year before tax. We live in a tiny converted garage studio in Oakland for $1400 per month. We also support extended family. This is a very important value to us and nonnegotiable. We pay my brother in law's rent of $900 at his college in SoCal plus his food and we pay his college tuition of around 24k per year. There is chance that another family member will be starting college at a junior college and possibly moving in with us next summer. To pull this off, we would need to move into a slightly bigger apartment. 

I am very determined to make all this work and still make good financial steps to the benefit of all of us. We have a total of 24k in savings, but we will do our very best to keep increasing that. We will also work to keep increasing our salaries, but I expect steady rather than sudden increases.

I keep wondering if there is any way to use house hacking to get into a two bedroom unit in a multifamily property so that we could purchase a home and keep the mortgage payments low. But I'm starting to feel like this may be foolish and/or impossible under the circumstances. I would appreciate any thoughts or advice from anyone. Would it be impossible to get a duplex or triplex with 3.5% down and mortgage minus rents under 2k?