New to BP and my goal is to house hack

[Kristen Manke]

Hello Bigger Pockets! I am Kristen. I am 20 years old and I have been trying to do research about real estate investing for a while now. I learned about Bigger Pockets from TikTok. Anyways, I am very interested in doing house hacking (at least for my first investment). I either want to do a traditional house hack or rent-by-room. For my town though I think I will end up doing rent-by-room because there are no duplexes for sale around here. I recently called about a house and applied to get pre-qualified. I have not been able to see the inside of the property (except pictures), but it looks big enough for me to live in plus renting out a room. I don't know if I will get this house but my plan for any house I get is to charge the tenants at least $500 plus split the cost of the utilities. I probably won't be able to live for free but at least I am not paying for the mortgage and utilities all myself. I'm hoping to hold the property that I get for a while and be able to rent out the whole house to a family. At that point, they will be paying the mortgage and it will be cash flowing. 

Financing.  I have quite a bit saved up from working the last two years. I am very cheap and that has paid off. I have never really known what I was saving for but I am so glad that I have because I really think (with more education and research) I could really get a house and start my real estate journey!

[Amanda Gisonni Kittredge]

Hi Kristen, Welcome to Bigger Pockets! House Hacking is a great way to get started. I wish that is how I started but a house hack was actually my third deal. The town that I am located in also does not have a lot of multi-families and the ones that were for sale were too expensive for the numbers to work. You definitely will want to make sure renting by the room is allowed in your jurisdiction. I also would analyze the numbers to ensure that they will work even if you are not living in the house should you want to move out in the future and rent to a family like you mentioned. Good luck!