House hacking vacation home
Boston, MA · Member since 2015 · 1 post · 1 vote
Has anyone house hacked a vacation home?
I saw a cute 4 unit in North Conway that looks like it has a great owner occupied situation. We could use the nice unit as our unit, use the other 3 units to float the mortgage/tax/insurance, and add to the 12 units that we already have in NH and VT. The expenses (heat/plowing/yard) wouldn't be fully covered by the other tenants, but it's a small loss and we'd have a great ski spot.
We've always kept our rentals separate from our personal residence. Anything we need to really consider? How would financing work in this situation?
Thanks for your help!
@Lauren Feltz the financing is the first thing to settle, because it changes the deal.
The low-down owner-occupied loans on a 2 to 4 unit are for your primary residence, the place you live most of the year. A ski place you visit on weekends does not qualify, and a second-home loan is meant for a one-unit home. So plan on this being bought as an investment property: bigger down payment, investment rate, and the lender counting the other three units' rent (usually at 75%) toward the payment. Ask a lender who does a lot of small multifamily up there before you write an offer, so the numbers you are judging are the real ones.
On running it, three things I would look at hard:
Your unit sits empty most of the year but still costs you heat, plowing and a share of everything. Price that as a real monthly cost, not "a small loss", and make sure the other three still cover the mortgage, taxes and insurance without it.
Year-round tenants in a ski town are gold. Winter-only renters pay well but leave in April, and spring and fall can be hard to fill. If the current tenants are long-term, find out what their leases and rents are before closing, and whether they are below market.
Look at who needs housing locally. Resort and restaurant staff are often short on places to live in ski towns, and a unit rented by the room to them can earn more than one lease and stays full in winter, when the heat bill is highest. It is more work, so only if the numbers need it.
With 12 units already, the separate-books habit you have is the right one: keep this building on its own account and track your own unit's share of the costs so tax time is clean.
Since you'd only be using one unit as a ski place and it isn't your primary, I'd plan on this getting financed as an investment property, not owner occupied. Lenders get picky about calling a 4 unit a second home, so the live in one unit angle mostly won't get you better terms here.
With 12 units already in NH and VT you're in good shape on the experience side. The two routes I'd look at are a conventional investment loan if your personal DTI has room, or a DSCR loan where qualifying is mostly based on the property's rents. The catch with DSCR is the unit you keep for yourself won't be producing rent, so you only get credit for 3 units, and some lenders don't love personal use on a business purpose loan at all. Ask that question up front before you get too far.
I'd also run the numbers with real North Conway rents for both short term and long term, since winter heavy markets swing a lot. If you get one picked out and want a second set of eyes on the financing side, feel free to message me.
Lauren, this can work well, but I'd underwrite it as an investment purchase first and a vacation home second. A four-unit where you don't actually live won't qualify as a primary residence, and second-home loans are really a one-unit product — so plan on investment financing, investment rates, and a larger down payment, and let any personal use be the bonus, not the math. Two things that help: keep the owner unit on the same systems as the rentals (one roof, one heating system to track, not two), and be honest about how many weeks a year you'll truly use it. If those weeks are peak ski season, that's real rent you're giving up — price that in. I buy small multifamily in MA/NH and run a short-term rental in Revere, so I live on both sides of this. Happy to connect — DMs open.
Twelve units across NH and VT and now a vacation house hack in North Conway? That's a seriously smart way to get the ski cabin and have the tenants chip in. Quick heads up: since it won't be your primary home, most lenders will treat a 4-unit like this as an investment property, so the rents from the other three units can actually help you qualify, and programs that lean on rental income are worth a look. I help investors with exactly this and work with a network of lenders, so if I'm not the right fit I'll connect you with someone who is. Message me the price and rough rents and I'll point you the right way.
Hey Lauren — fun idea, North Conway 4-unit as ski house + rental is classic New England house hack.
A few things to check since you already have 12 units in NH/VT:
1. Financing is key like Harrison said:
- If you truly move into one unit as primary for 12 months, you can use low-down owner-occ (5% conventional on 4-unit is gone, but 15-20% is still way better than 25% investment). Lender will want you within ∼50-100 miles of Boston job, so document WFH or job transfer if you're Boston-based.
- If it's really a 2nd home/vacation home that you use part-time, you can't use primary owner-occ — that's 10% down 2nd home loan (1 unit only) or 25% investment loan for 2-4 unit. You can't use 2nd home loan on a 4-unit — Fannie says 1-unit only for 2nd home.
- So for a 4-unit, it's either true primary move for a year, or investment DSCR at 25% down. No in-between.
2. What bites people on these:
- Short-term rental rules — North Conway / Conway has STR permits and winter occupancy rules. Check town.
- Heat/plowing/yard you mentioned — on a 4-unit those will be $800-1200/mo winter, make sure your underwriting includes it vs your NH/VT portfolio.
- Insurance — vacant/owner-occ mixed use + ski area = higher premium. Get quote early.
- Keeping rentals separate is smart, but this will still count for DTI if you use conventional. If you go DSCR, it doesn't, but you lose owner-occ rate.
If you can make it a legit 1-year primary, your numbers work even with small loss — you're offsetting Boston housing + you get ski spot. If it's really a part-time vacation, underwrite it as 25% down investment and see if the 3 rents still cover with that heat/plow.
Curious — would you actually live there full-time for a year or is it weekends only? That changes loan path.
Interesting opportunity, especially with your existing rental portfolio. The biggest financing consideration would be whether the property qualifies as a primary residence, second home, or investment property, since that can change your loan options.
Have you looked into financing yet, or are you still evaluating the property?
I've had a client do it and it went well. With multifamily you may need to check with the local laws whether or not it is allowed.
If you really want to get creative, check out the guidelines for the SBA loan to house hack a hotel. I believe it is 10% down without a balloon payment.
Hi Lauren, congrats on the North Conway find. Financing a 4-unit you'll live in is often friendlier than a pure investor loan: owner-occupied 2-4 unit purchases can go with low down payment programs (FHA or conventional), and lenders can often count part of the projected rent from the other units toward your qualifying income. With 12 units already, how your existing debt and the property's rents are documented will matter, so it's worth comparing owner-occupied against an investor DSCR route before you get under contract. I do lending, and I'm happy to walk through the numbers on a quick call, my direct line and email are on my profile. (Drafted with AI assistance.)
Financing has been covered well, so a few things on the numbers side. First, underwrite all three rental units as long-term rentals, even if you're thinking nightly. That's what the lender will mostly count, and it's your safety net. Nightly income is the upside, not the plan, and North Conway is seasonal (ski, foliage, summer) with real slow months in between. Before counting any nightly income, confirm the town's current short-term rental rules and zoning for that address, since that's changed in a lot of NH towns. Second, heat is the big one. In an older NH 4-unit, if you pay the heat, it can be your largest expense after the mortgage. Check whether units are metered separately and get the last 12 months of fuel bills. Third, if any units go nightly, your own family weekends land on the same peak ski weekends that earn the most, so count those blocked nights as a cost. Last, a good gut check: put that "small loss" next to what a seasonal ski rental would cost you. If it's less, it's a fair price for a ski place that builds equity.
I built a free tool that compares nightly vs. long-term income for an address. It's in my profile if you want to run North Conway.
As others noted you definitely have the experience and understanding that this won't be a passive income, romantic type situation but rather another rental property with 3 tenants to wrangle. How easy would it be to resell if you decide it isn't what you anticipated? Not to talk you out of it but ensure there are enough benefits to stack in favor prior to taking on this level of work. I have 2 STRs that we also use for vacationing. I paid cash and look at them as largely stable, illiquid, consumption items. We have been fortunate that they are appreciating and currently making enough to cover the expenses but when I actually look at the bottom line considering the time involved it would be way easier and likely even cheaper to rent a beach place several weeks a year. The tipping points for us were a stable financial vehicle in our heavy TSM index fund portfolio, a place that we can essentially go whenever we want with the peace of mind knowing it is nicely done, clean and willing to accommodate our pitbull mix. We are enjoying ours but going from LTR to STR was a bigger learning curve than I anticipated. Best wishes and please keep us posted.
Lauren, I can relate to the appeal. I rent out a single-family in winter and run it as a short-term rental in summer, so the seasonal side of this is familiar.
The replies have the financing side covered, and Inder's point about pricing the peak weeks you'd block is the one I'd put first. In a ski town, the weeks you'd want the unit are usually the weeks it would earn the most, so I'd count your own use as lost rent and check whether the other three units still carry the building without it.
I'd also decide early whether those three units are year-round leases or seasonal rentals. That choice changes the heat, plowing, and turnover costs you mentioned more than anything else.
With 12 units in NH and VT already, are you planning to run this one the same way as the others?