Finding House Hack Deals

[Alexandro Jimenez]

Hey everyone hope you’re all well

I am starting to look for properties that would make a good house hack for me. I currently have 1 other person who I know will be renting a room in the home I end up buying.

Are there any formulas or methods anyone would suggest I consider while shopping for a house hack?

I’m caught up on how much I should spend, how many bedrooms I should look for, and ways to find hidden equity in homes.

Anything helps! Thanks so much

[Andrew Powers]

Numbers wise, I look at any house as a rental. If it works without me living there, it will often work as a house hack. Then I narrow down my calculations for house hacking... ie find conservative rent amount per bedroom (look at FB, craigslist in your area) and recalculate. If there's 0 or more cashflow, that's great as you live for free and don't pay rent. If you lose some money every month, then you decide if that's ok for you (if it's still less than what you would pay to rent yourself, it's probably fine as you are still gaining other benefits or owning real estate + learning how to be a landlord. But you decide).

You have to make sure the house has certain layout and features to make it work. If I'm looking for a 4bd/2.5ba house, then I filter my search for 3bd/2ba. There may be extra room to add a bedroom or bathroom. Same principle applies for a smaller house.

Also make sure there's adequate driveway/ street parking for everyone living there.