Cash flow house hack

[Justin Brown]

Hey I heard from someone before that they said that your first house hack usually won't cash flow. I was thinking that in order to cash flow for my first deal since it will be highly unlikely is to get at least a three bedroom house and rent out all the bedrooms which means I will be sleeping on a pull out couch that turns into a bed. I was also thinking of hoping to get a house that comes with a garage so I can post on facebook marketplace and see if anyone wants to rent out my garage for let's say $250 a month. So with all this said lets say I rent out each bedroom for $700 a month and the garage for 250 a month that is $2,350 coming in each month. I feel like once you factor in all those income streams I should most definitely be able to cash flow a little bit. What do you guys think?

[Nicholas L.]

@Justin Brown

that's not the right way to think about it, since we don't know anything about the expenses that come with the property you're referencing.  the right way to think about it is - how does it compare to renting?

if your rent would be $1200 a month, renting some random place, but you could house hack instead, and on that house hack, your mortgage is $2000 a month, but you're offsetting it with $1200 in rent, you're ahead - even though you're still paying net $800 ($2000 minus $1200.)

you're ahead for 2 reasons - 1, it's slightly less than renting, and 2, you're building equity.  building equity is more important.  equity is wealth.

make sense?