All Forum Posts by: Spencer P.

@Scott Bowles We closed about 2 weeks ago at 3.5% for a duplex. We didn’t take cash out though. I’m not sure if things have gone up or down since then but I know the investors were very keen on verifying my employment during this time of economic ups and downs. I believe they did VOE 3 separate times.

AirBNB is an option as well if you are interested in a higher effort/higher return approach. 

I don't know a ton about that specific part of town so I will let others chime in but I will say that your logic seems sound.  As with any new build in an area experiencing growth, you're probably not making your money on the "buy".  I would suggest that you have a plan to hold that property at least for a few years. A buyer would not want to pay the same for a 1-5 year old place as they would to build new and get to make all of the decisions and have something be new.  If you're planning on househacking that means make sure that you like the area and can see yourself there for at least a few years.  

What you've said about rental prices is even more true of home prices, and homes you are committing to for much longer than just another lease cycle. It's probably not what you want to hear, but getting out of renting at an inflated rate to buy at an inflated rate sounds like a recipe for disaster. 

Do you have a reference for this statement?  I agree with you and have always felt that this was the case, but would love the chance to see some hard data. 

Do you want to be a little bit of a landlord, or a lot? 

We ultimately chose to buy a MIL as a first so that we would have the flexibility to turn it back into a SFH if the market, or life warranted that. That security is worth a little bit less in cash flow to us.

My experience is you should really focus on where YOU want to live. A MIL is a great way to offset your mortgage, but with as hot as the market is in SLC you can quickly find yourself looking in areas you don't actually want to be just to "make the numbers work".  Similarly, because the market is so hot I think its prudent to look for somewhere that you are comfortable buying and holding long term regardless of whether you will owner occupy or not for the long term.