All Forum Posts by: Tom Wagner

For those have registered on BiggerPockets make sure to also register on the Zoom webinar link.

Back again for Massachusetts House Hacking Meetup II. This event will be an interactive discussion about House Hacking in the greater Boston area. It will be hosted on Zoom and will have the following format:

* 10-15 minute discussion on how to analyze deals (exact content TBD)
* 5-10 minutes Q&A and discussion on analyzing deals
* 30-45 minute open discussion (5-10 minutes per topic in order to touch on everything people want to discuss!)

All topics welcome for open discussion -- bring your questions / ideas / strategies! And feel free to forward this event to anyone interested or active house hacking in Boston

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WEBINAR LINK:

https://zoom.us/webinar/regist...

Bumping this -- look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

This is a difficult question to answer and there is not a one-size-fits-all "right" answer. In my opinion, 3.5% down FHA is better than 20% down (if allowed) because of how low interest rates are. I would rather buy a $600,000 house for $25,000 down (3.5%) and buy another investment property for $400,000 (20% down -> $80,000), than buy the same $600,000 house with 20% down ($120,000).

Alternatively, by opting for a 3.5% down FHA loan you could take the $95,000 difference between 3.5% down and 20% down, and invest that money in the stock market. This is risky of course, but over the long-haul I expect stock market returns to significantly outpace my ~3.3% interest note.

That said, there are some downsides to FHA. You have to may mortgage insurance (Google "FHA Mortgage Insurance Premium") for the life of the loan, which will cut into your cash flow. There is also the owner-occupancy requirement.

As with anything in life, there are tradeoffs!

Hi James, love the idea and the ambition. Any updates on how this is working out? Where are you in the process? 

To me the tricky part is financing as a student. There are asset-based lenders out there, but often times those notes will have higher interest rates.

Did you end up pursuing this goal? Would be super curious to hear how it worked out!

Finding an investor-friendly agent is a key step in locking down a house hack, particularly one who can help you underwrite the property and find good rental comps. And I personally love the house hacking strategy, I think a 3.5% down FHA house hack is the best investment out there, across all asset classes.

Also love the condo conversion exit strategy -- keep us posted!

From what I've read the key is all about the follow up. You have to repeatedly send follow up mailers every 3-6 months for the direct mail strategy to be effective. Sending one won't keep you at the top of their mind when the seller eventually decides to sell!

Even if you had financed the purchase with a mortgage, you wouldn't have been able to "write off" the entire purchase. That said, I think buying with cash is foolish given the current rate environment. Interest rates are at all-time lows, why not take advantage?

There are definitely tools you can use to analyze properties, including BiggerPockets. Working with the inputs and fine tuning your underwriting takes practice. Some people do "100 days of analysis", or similar, analyzing at least one property every day. I definitely think it's a good way to fine-tune your analysis skills.