All Forum Posts by: Alex Kohler

Craigslist is getting pretty dusty. If it isn't working, don't waste your time. Are the rooms furnished? 

I have seen that Zillow allows room rentals now. For our long term rentals, Zillow brings us the most leads, so try out their room rentals. 

There's a company called PadSplit in our market that helps with this too. Let me know if you'd like an introduction to the local rep here.

Have you chatted with anyone local to your area about what's the best place to post? Facebook is great for my area, and probably is for yours too. Why are you trying to hide that you're renting out rooms from friends? They might be a great resource to find a tenant. 

other ideas: apartments.com, zillow, avail.co, local newspapers, tell everyone you talk to in person that you're renting rooms. If you furnish the rooms: Furnished Finder. 

I use turbotenant ! just make sure to list it multiple times that it is a room for rent, some people are very bad at reading lol.

@Alex Kohler

Roomies.com is where I find about half my people. The other half come from fb. I throw my listings on my wife’s fb marketplace instead of mine. And she hates when her friends ask her about the rooms I post on there. 🤣

 Hi Alex, 

I got started with an FHA househack in Louisville, Ky in 2016.The home was a triplex, purchase price was $190k, and i put down 3.5% (~$5000). Per FHA guidelines you have to live in the home, so i moved into one of the units.

The Mortgage was $1350 per month and the other two units brought in a total of $1400. This home did not "cash flow" per se while i was living there, but it did allow me to live for free. Prior to this i was renting out a 2 bed 2 bath apartmenet for $1100 per month, so if you factor in the fact that i could now save $1100 per month it made complete sense. When i moved out the next year the property rented for $2200 total, and just prior to selling in in 2021 the property was renting for $2850 per month and the mortgage was still the same. I sold it last year (2021) after five years of ownership for $300k. 

I would recommend reframing your thinking. The goal of a "Househack" is to obtain an asset and reduce your cost of living while living there. If your currently pay $1000 per month in rent and a househack will reduce that to $600 per month in rent, i view that as a win.  

@Alex Kohler - For a house hack, if you bring 3.5% down and you live for free in the third unit (assuming its a triplex), that is a huge win. You also want to ensure the property cash flows once you move out, e.g. all three units are rented. House hacking is an incredible tool to build wealth. If you can remove your living expenses, your savings rate will increase exponentially allowing you to buy that much more real estate.

For instance, due to house hacking, I have no living expenses. I live on $2-3K per month which allows me to save almost $5K. This enabled me to purchase 5 deals over the last 1.5 years. As mentioned above, its a super powerful tool that I recommend all beginner investors use. Just make sure it's at least a 3 or 4 plex since its much more likely to cash flow than a duplex or SFH.