Claiming House Hack Income??

[Will C.]

Hello BP family. I have a few questions that I would like help with. I currently owner occupy a 3/2 SFR in which I would like to rent a bedroom. I would like to rent the room to accomplish two things; 1) extra income and 2) start building landlord experience that is evident on my tax returns. I keep reading that most lenders require 2 years of landlord experience to qualify for investment loans.

If I have a lease/'s (M2M preferably) and claim the income on my taxes, will this count as landlord experience assuming I can keep the room mostly rented for two years? Do lenders even consider house hacking to be a landlord/tenant experience?

What are the pro/cons of claiming or not claiming? I was told by someone in the finance world that it may not be worth it to claim.

Thanks!

[Lance Lvovsky]

Whoever told you it is not worth it to claim the income is wrong. Under law you must claim the income as rental income.