House Hacking With High Personal Expenses

[Knoell Palmer]

Hey Everybody! I'm stuck in a situation and I wanted to get you guys' advice.My girlfriend and  I would love to get started house hacking with a duplex. The issue is that when we run our numbers as if the other unit is vacant and we are responsible for the complete mortgage , we always find ourselves spending nearly as much as we earn when we include expenses that are irrelevant to real estate (car note, phone bill, insurance etc.). I do believe that we can find properties that will cash flow. My only issue is that I wouldn't want to be living paycheck to paycheck while doing something like fixing up a unit or in search of filling a vacancy. What do people typically do in this situation? It's also important for me to note that we have reduced our expenses about as much as they can be reduced. Any advice is greatly appreciated .

[Trent Chance]

@Knoell Palmer take.an honest look at your numbers. You may even want to buy an hour or two of time from an accountant who also invests in RE.

One idea may be to rent the other unit per room instead of a single tenant. Not only can this generate a little more cash flow but it also reduces risk that the unit will be completely vacant at any one time.

I will say though, if you know the area and vacancy isn't an issue then just build up a reserve fund considering 3 months vacancy in case of a bad tenant and go for it.

My wife and I are looking at a new construction triplex where two units will cover the mortgage but if we have vacancy we.can afford it plus we'll save up all the money we used to pay per month for our single family home.