House Hacking-How should I approach it?

[Luis Vilar]

Hey BP! My name is Luis. I am currently living in South Florida, specifically in West Palm Beach. I am trying to get my first deal done within a year. I've been crunching some numbers based on the blog "How to analyze a deal". However, I still not very clear how to approach this and would like to clarify a couple of doubts. When I am calculating numbers on the spreadsheet I created, I am using the 50% rule for expenses. By the end of the calculations I am having a negative cash flow. From my point of view this is money coming out of my pocket. But also, I understand that not all the expense are going to be used monthly, some should go to a savings account im case maintenance needs to be done. Am I missing something? How should I approach my numbers. Should I get a deal where the rent pays for the morgage and separate some of my salary for maintenance? Thanks in advance!

[Mitchell Jaworski]

@Luis Vilar - it also depends on your goals.  If you want to live for free so to speak, then a property where the 2nd unit rent covers your mortgage and taxes gets you there.   Any maintenance items that come up are no different than if you lived in your own home.

Would it be nice to cash flow after factoring in maintenance, yes it would.  However, I have not seen those numbers in a multi-family in PBC for a couple years, at least not anywhere I would feel safe living.

Are you doing your calculation by hand?  I have an excel file I use to crunch the numbers.  PM me if you want it.