All Forum Posts by: Sebastian Albors

I have been wanting to get started with real estate investing for awhile, and we finally bought our first home in March. We decided to house hack because it made the most sense for our situation and it was a less risky way to get started. We live in Asheville, NC and bought our home right over city limits in Candler, NC. We found a single family home that already had the basement converted to an apartment with a small kitchen and full bathroom. The previous owners did the build out for a family member to be able to live with them, and the work isn't outstanding - but it's a completely functional space. We added a wall to completely separate it from the upstairs portion for more privacy. We have a shared washer/dryer we will use in the meantime, but have a space to add one in the apartment later. We have our first tenant moving in at the end of this month. We also rent a room upstairs to my brother. All together, we will be collecting enough rent to pay roughly 2/3 of the mortgage.

Now that things are starting to calm down a bit and we are feeling moved in, I am starting to think about where we can go from here. We would eventually like to move out and rent out both units here and repeat the process with another property. Or if we get to the point where we no longer want to house hack so we can have more space to ourselves, I'd like to continue investing in rental properties in some capacity.

I'm wondering what an acceptable time frame would be to begin looking to buy our second property, and insight on continuing to house hack versus other modes of real estate investing. I know that depends a lot on each individual's goals and situation, but would love to hear how others moved on to their second purchase. I also have questions regarding:

- How does financing work on the second purchase once you already have one mortgage to your name? Is it possible to continue to qualify for a similar amount as the first home?

- The current house we are in will need some bigger renovations at some point. We know HVAC and potentially the roof will need to be replaced in the next few years. Should we prioritize getting those done before moving on to the next property?

- What are the best ROI renovations we can make to increase the rent value of our current property when we move out? Is it worth paying for a new washer/dryer hook up or will it not make enough difference in rent price so that if it works to share, just continue to share?

I feel like I need a mentor to be able to talk me through our specific situation and goals and help plan for the next move. Would love to hear thoughts, personal experiences and any pointers in the right direction are much appreciated!

My wife and I just bought our first home to house hack. It is a single family home with a finished basement that was already converted into an apartment with a small kitchen and full bathroom. They built it out themselves so a family member could live there. We made a few minor adjustments to separate it completely from upstairs access and offer more privacy. We have someone moving in at the end of this month. Upstairs is a 3b 2ba and we also rent a room to my brother. We are collecting enough rent to pay about 2/3 the mortgage that way, excluding utilities.

Hello! I am new to the group, real estate investing in general, and trying to learn so that I can take my first step into real estate. The idea of owning real estate as an investment has always made me excited, but truthfully I don't know a lot about my options. Along with the research I am doing, I'd love to hear from others about their firsthand experience.

I am 33 years old, recently married, no kids but plan to have our first in the next year. We live in Asheville, NC, which seems to be a pretty expensive market. One important detail is that my brother currently lives with us, and we are open to having him stay with us if we do make a purchase as a renter to help cover our mortgage.

I see our main options as the following:

1) Buying an SFDU to live in, and "house hack" with my brother continuing to live with us and pay rent
2) House hacking with MFDU. Doesn't seem to be a lot of options around here for that though
3) Continuing to rent where we live, and buy a separate property to rent out

I personally feel like having my brother to help out as a renter is a huge advantage. Although we wouldn't want that to do that forever, we definitely don't mind it for the time being.

 I'm curious from others that have more experience, what feedback you'd have for someone making their first purchase? 

I am excited to learn and hopefully make our first purchase soon!