Duplex vs Single family House Hack

[Sam Trulli]

Hello everyone,

I’m looking into house hacking and wanted to hear some opinions on house hacking a duplex vs a single family home.

It seems like a duplex is the better option as far as numbers wise with halving multiple units able to be rented once I move out of the property. But with duplexes being so hard to find in my market should I settle for a single family house hack?

[Joe Scaparra]

@Sam Trulli, obviously go where you find the numbers work. However, I am a big duplex fan. Long term I think a duplex will beat out a SFH. Starting out, either can work but if you go the SFH route, at sometime in the future one of two things will occur. You will tire of having strangers live in your house or you will eventually move. Moving will cause issues as to who or how will you manage multiple tenants in one unit or you will just rent to one tenant giving you less rent total than renting out two sides of a duplex.

A duplex on the other end is easy to manage in both situations. You can get a roommate on your side if you want but when the time comes that your tired of having a roommate you can easily not renew and not take a big hit with lack of income since it is only one room or so that you are eliminating. You always have income coming in between tenants with a duplex. That is a big deal as cash flow is king. Also if you end up renting the SFH vs a duplex it is easier to get two $1000 renters vs one $2000 renter. So ease of management is a big plus with a duplex. However, if you can't find one in your locale then you can fall back to the SFH house hack.