House hacking Questions On Utilities & Mail

[Elizabeth Najera]

Hello fellow investors!

I am looking to buy a property, and have some general questions, since I'm looking to house hack as I start on this investment journey. I've listened to many podcasts, where a lot of people start by house-hacking. Maybe I'm just have missed these answers, or maybe its common sense and I'm just oblivious to this, but my question is, if the house is big enough to so that one floor can be rented and the other is occupied by me, are the utilities just split depending on the amount of tenants (members of a family), electrical, water/sewer, etc. or can you have it metered separately, if its not registered as a 'duplex/multi family dwelling'. Also how do you handle the mail? Do  you assign an A and B, so that everyone gets their own mail delivered, or would it just arrive and then I would just give them theirs and take mine? Like living with roommates.

Total newbie here, so I just want to make sure I'm doing things right. I live in Washington, I don't know if that matters or not, but would love your input and help in this. 

Thank you!

Liz

[Grant Rothenburger]

@Elizabeth Najera If I were to house hack, I'd probably just factor utilities into rent and make that known when advertising the unit. You'll have to talk with some small MF owners around you and figure out what the average utilities are so you can make it fair.