House Hacking Numbers

[Paul Honen]

Looking to house-hack a triplex in Chattanooga TN, where the numbers are showing me paying/reserving a little more than half my current mortgage (889) while I'm staying there, which comes out to about 544.92 that must be paid/reserved each month, but once I move out and get it fully rented, I'll be making 186.69 per door (560.08 overall) per month.

I was coming into house-hacking hoping to get my entire or at least most of my mortgage paid for. Am I allowing that hope (of being mortgage free) to cast doubt on a good investment overall?

[Alexandra Hughes Pailet]

Hey Paul - To confirm, you already own the triplex?

My first houseback in Denver still cost me roughly $550 a month in "rent" but that's because I put down only 3% and the market is much more expensive in Denver vs Chattanooga. This was also a SFH and not a multifamily so I had two roommates paying $900 each per room which went straight to my mortgage. The $550 I paid per month was still less than the $1000 I was paying to live in a tiny, no-frills apartment in Denver prior to purchasing the house, so I looked at it as a savings in "rent"/monthly housing payment but in reality it's a much better deal because you're actually putting that money towards an investment and transitioning from being a renter to being a landlord which is a far more lucrative deal in the end. Now that I've moved out and it's rented, I make roughly $450 each month which is far more than I honestly ever thought was possible in Denver.

Because of that savings each month during the house hack and now my earnings from it being fully renters, I was eventually able to save up again and buy my first long-distance rental in Chattanooga, which is why I follow the Chattanooga keyword search :) It's definitely a leap of faith but if the numbers make sense (and it seems like they do from what you've said), I say go for it!