A practical guide to your first investment property — even if it's also your first home. Ankeny, Ames, Des Moines, and everywhere between.
House hacking is one of the most accessible ways to start building wealth through real estate — and Central Iowa is one of the better markets in the country to do it. The premise is straightforward: you buy a property as your primary residence using owner-occupant financing, and rent out part of it — a basement, a finished bonus space, a duplex unit, or extra bedrooms — to offset or eliminate your housing payment.
That's it. No 25% down. No commercial loan. No LLC required to start.
Here's why I talk about this so much: my first property was a house hack. I've run the numbers on my own deals, lived through the early mistakes, and now I help buyers across Ankeny, Johnston, Huxley, Polk City, and Altoona evaluate properties using the same framework I used on mine. You may have seen the House Hack Jack content on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram — this is the long-form version.
Price-to-rent ratios still pencil. Compared to Denver, Nashville, or the Twin Cities, the gap between purchase price and achievable rent in the Ankeny–Des Moines metro still works for a meaningful number of properties.
The rental pool is diverse and steady. DMACC, Iowa State, downtown Des Moines employers, Hy-Vee corporate, Principal Financial, John Deere, and the medical campuses all feed consistent demand within twenty minutes of Ankeny.
The product mix supports the strategy. Walk-out basements, duplexes, ADU configurations, and four-bed layouts that rent by the room are common enough to give you real options.
Compare that to renting a comparable Ankeny home for $1,950+ and you've created monthly savings — while building equity, capturing appreciation, and using owner-occupant financing instead of investor financing.
Illustrative numbers, not a promise. Your deal depends on rate, condition, location, layout, and product type. Run yours below.
I'm a REALTOR®, not a lender — I'll route you to qualified local lenders for financing. My job is making sure the property we tour actually fits your program.
Six months out? Let's talk about what's realistic. Ready now? Let's run numbers on three specific properties this week.