House Hacking advice

[Alex Lunsford]

I'm coming up on my first property purchase, where I'll be the primary resident of a single family home. I'm getting my start in the Houston, TX market, and was wondering what advice or experiences some of you may have had with house hacking a single family home in Houston. As in the demand for rooms to rent in a single family home, how long the room would sit before rented, etc.

Any and all advice are much appreciated!

[Daniel Haberkost]

Originally posted by @Alex Lunsford:

I'm coming up on my first property purchase, where I'll be the primary resident of a single family home. I'm getting my start in the Houston, TX market, and was wondering what advice or experiences some of you may have had with house hacking a single family home in Houston. As in the demand for rooms to rent in a single family home, how long the room would sit before rented, etc.

Any and all advice are much appreciated!

 I house hack a 4/3 single family here in CO and if you put the work in screening your tenants it can be a great arrangement. Always do a background/credit check, call their last two landlords, collect a security deposit, have a formal lease, call their employer to verify income and to get an idea of how they perform at work and be extremely clear in your standards. For example, my tenants know not to make noise past 9:00, to never leave the kitchen a mess and to always pay rent on the first, there was no ambiguity as to my expectations going into the arrangement. 

Also, be mindful of everyone's schedules, everyone in my house comes/goes at different times so it's rare that we run into each other which helps quite a bit. 

Within the next couple months all of my tenants will have been in the house for over a year (with no issues I might add) and 2 of them intend to stay 2 years at the minimum. Point being, it's doable if you have your processes in place. 

Good luck!

-Dan