Inquiry house hacking

[Nakia Addison]

I now have a consideration for house hacking. The reason I'm open to this option is because the market that I reside in is currently above my price point criteria. 

Question1: Is there a cash flow criteria for house hacking?

Question 2:Are the primary startegies for house hacking is to live rent free while owning a property while landlording?

I'm asking because I've done analysis on a few multifamily properties and cash flow wasn't ideal but the mortgage would be covered by the tenants. 

This lead me to question 3. Are all utilities considered to be covered by tenants?

[Stephen Akindona]

@Nakia Addison, house hacking is a great strategy to use to get started in real estate investing! It's called house hacking because you will ultimately have to pay to live somewhere! So instead of renting or buying a single family house, you can house hack and buy an investment property while buying a place to live! 

The ultimate goal would be to find a place where you could live for free or maybe even get a little cash flow, but in todays current market climate I imagine this would prove to be not impossible but difficult. Alternatively, if you could find a house hack where you could cut your rent/ mortgage payment down 50-75% this is a total win as well. 

Utilities are really subject to the property. If all the services are separately metered then your tenants will pay their own utilities. What is also common is the electric being split but owner paying water and sewer. With a small 4 unit property down to a duplex it would be very easy to make your tenants pay a split of the utility bill if water is not split.