Friends Don't Let Friends Rent Their Primary Residence

[John Suralik]

I know there is a lot of discussion on house hacking on BP and it can be a great strategy, but renting out a house that was purchased as a primary residence is a good way to go broke. I've recently gotten a phone call from a good friend that motivated me to write this post. He called to give me his condolences for me being a part-time landlord. "I don't know how you do it. I'm putting my house up for sale." His call came after 18 months of renting out a house that started out as his primary residence. He went on to tell me that renting out his house costed him $19,000 last year. "The rent was covering the mortgage, but with taxes, insurance, and upkeep I'm going broke." he said. Some one else told me this week that their primary house would cash flow because the rent, insurance, and taxes came to $1200 and it would rent for $1500. I wanted to hug them and tell them it would be alright, but I'd be lying. 

I thought about it, and I've seen this time and time again with people trying to get started in real estate investing. Renting a house that loses money every month is like starting a business and selling goods for less than you buy them for. People hear about making money in real estate and they decide to rent their once primary residence out when the time comes that they need to move. The problem is that the investment was never purchased with renting as the endgame, so the house doesn't cash flow. There isn't enough meat on the bone to cover capital expenditures, repairs, property management, HOA fees, and other costs. I'm curious what kind of honest experiences BP members have to share with renting out their primary residences.