Remember, House Hacks and Hustle are Tools to be Used

I recently met up with a friend for drinks a couple weeks ago and he mentioned something I hadn't heard in a long time. "House Hack." And he kept repeating the phrase, "I'm tryin' to hustle."

What he was getting at was he was wanting to find ways to produce either money or success utilizing his limited access to resources. How I internalized it was, "how can I apply that mindset to my rental property?"

Well, I have been considering cashing in on the resale of the property but I felt the $700/mo lease on one side wouldn't be enough to help justify the price tag of what I wanted to list it at. The problem is the tenant's lease expires 4 months prior to my ability to resell the home per the terms of my lending agreement and I don't want to risk carrying the vacancy cost for even 1 month.

Solution: I was able to find a friend who needed some short term housing and agreed to rent him my own room for 1 month, then he would occupy the empty unit at the same $700/mo while I list both my unit and the vacant tenant unit for between $900-$1000 per unit. This would give me 3 months I otherwise would not have had to try and attract a higher paying tenant and better position the property for resale in the fall. 

It would also allow me to increase my accessibility to the unit exponentially to make any repairs or upgrades that I otherwise would have to limit to an afternoon or at most a weekend.