Is House Hacking Still Feasible

[Tyler Warlow]

Hello everyone!

I am trying to understand if house hacking is still a viable option if you pursue any options beyond rent by the room. Does anyone have any examples where they were able to do a house hack without this method and where the average SFH price is around 400K?

I am hoping to pursue a house hack in the Raleigh, NC or surrounding areas. The general trend that I have been seeing is that cashflow is going to be hard to generate in today's market unless you are able to rent room by room.

Unfortunately, this is not an option for my spouse and I due to past experiences with roommates. My wife is open to a situation where we are able to create separate living spaces, hence my question.

[Seth McGathey]

House hacking is always possible, but I think there is a misunderstanding hiding in your questions. House hacking rarely gives you cashflow. What it usually does it give you less living expenses. If your mortgage payments are something like $2400 on a $400,000 mortgage, then renting out rooms or other units might get your out of pocket payments down to something like $1000 or even less. That isn't cashflow but it is a whole heck of a lot better than paying $2400 and is probably better than if you were renting a similar place. 

That all being said from a guy like me who did actually cashflow a house hack. But that was because I bought a $100,000 three bedroom single family house and rented the other two rooms out. So my totally mortgage was $900 and I rented each room out for $500. But that was also 10 years ago and that same house is not worth almost $200,000. So a lot has changed. 

Long story short, don't think of house hacking as just a cashflow or nothing proposition. Think of it as a gateway to lower expenses. The less you can spend on your own living, the more you can invest in future properties. Plus, if you really want to take the benefits of house hacking to their fullest benefit, move out after a year+ to another house hack and fully rent the first one. Keep doing this and you will have a highly profitable portfolio in just a couple years.