Millennials have it tough financially- we’ve been told if we go to a respected University, study hard and get good grades we will land a great paying job. The reality? You graduate with loads of debt with no assistance or prospects of getting a great job and you return for more schooling thinking it will solve the problem. To add salt to the wound, house prices and rent keep increasing beyond reasonable affordability. As a millennial, I’m here to tell you that you can create your own financial freedom and you don’t need to settle and live in your parent’s basement into your 30s. In fact, I’m here to show you how we purchased our first house at 24, live for free by “house-hacking” and create passive cash flow for life.
What is house-hacking? The concept is simple yet powerful: purchase a house, create an income suite (e.g. basement apartment) and rent it out for passive income. The rental income from the apartment can either pay for the majority of your mortgage and living expenses, or you could even get paid to live for free. If you live in the main/ upstairs unit and rent out the basement, you can have the majority of your mortgage covered. If you go one step further and live in the basement/lower unit, you could not only live mortgage free but you could also have profit leftover in your pocket.
The first hurdle millennials and most people have to overcome is coming up with the downpayment. In our case, we lived below our means in order to save for a 5% downpayment. Another strategy is to borrow money from family, friends or private lenders. If required for financing, you could also ask them to act as a guarantor / co-signer.
Once we had the downpayment and financing confirmed, we purchased a detached fixer upper bungalow in the GTA which met all of the requirements for a potential basement apartment (e.g. ceiling height, separate entrance, zoning, parking, etc.). The house walkouts to a large backyard and backs on to ravine which is a major selling point for tenants. We built an open-concept legal 2 bedroom basement apartment with high-end looking finishes. We ensured we made the space look modern, bright and open so that it didn’t feel like a typical, dungy basement apartment. We started off by charging $1,250/mo (non-inclusive) with many applicants. Now we rent the unit for $1,450/mo (non-inclusive) and live mortgage-free.
Since then, we have refinanced the house based on the built-in equity and purchased another property which will be converted into a duplex. We are using this same strategy, except creating a 3-bedroom basement apartment and renting both units individually by room. The property is expected to cash flow more than $1,000/mo after all expenses. Once this duplex is complete, we will be refinancing and finding another property to expand our portfolio.
Rinse and Repeat until you reach your goals of financial freedom.
CREW
We hope you are finding our Blog informative and enjoyable to read while keeping you up to date with the ever changing real estate market.
Please feel free to contact me via Direct/Text or e-mail at any time and my team will be pleased to assist you, family members and friends with all your real estate needs. Referrals are always welcome!
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