House hacking with friends?

[Nicholas Patricio]

I am planning on buying a house to house hack while I am in college, would it be a good idea to have my friends as tenants?

[Peter MacKercher]

@Nicholas Patricio

I started out the same way, house hacking in college. A lot of my friends were, uh, not responsible, that's what I'll say, so the one time I did rent to a friend it went horribly wrong. And that's the rub -- either it goes really well and everyone's happy, or it goes really wrong. There is no middle way.

The standard advice is don't rent to friends and family. You can't "lose" family so that's a hard no, and don't rent to any friend you want to keep. Judge from there whether you think the risk is worth it.

Hope this helps!