1st Property. House Hacking Tips

[Markee Jensen]

Hey everyone!

I’m new to this community and excited to be apart of it. I listen to the podcast usually everyday at work as I’m reading the book “How to invest in Real Estate”

My goal this year is to buy my first property and house hack it. I’d live in one room and rent out the others, I feel like this is the best and easiest option for me as I am young single professional.

Anyway I wanted to get any tips and tricks from anyone that has house hacked before. I believe the goal is to live for free and try and get get a few hundred dollars in cash flow? The market I live in is rising, so how much should I spend on the property or should I be more focused on cash flow?

Thanks in advance for all tips! Would love to connect with anyone from here.

[Jeff White]

@Markee Jensen Congrats on taking the first step and setting a goal for yourself!

House hacking is the best strategy for maximizing your returns, buying a future investment property with a low-down payment loan, living for free (or close to it), and learning how to be a property manager. To me, it is giving you the education of being a landlord every day that you live there since you are on-site.  

What market are you in? That will play a big role on which strategy to use. 

My market is Denver, and rent-by-room is a great strategy since houses costs 450-500k on average here and multifamily is even more expensive. Since my market is a very popular millennial market, there is a huge demand for rent by room since it is an affordable entry level way to live here in Denver. One thing that I look for is large single family houses with 5+ bedrooms and 3+ bathrooms, and usually, even in my market, one can cash flow $1k over the mortgage. Is it more work? Absolutely.  Will there be challenges? Yes.  Is it worth it? YES!!

House hacking isn't for everyone, but for people that already have roommates, live in apartments, etc, it won't the biggest change. Imagine living for free for one year straight, and think about how much more money will you have in your checking account, that's the power of house hacking. It won't make a millionaire overnight, but it will set you up for success and the ability to scale (if that's your goal) long-term.