Good or Bad Idea: House Hacking in a Commercial Property

[Lou Ruggieri]

I'm currently in a two family house and thanks to BP have realized that moving into a bigger unit mix will help me house hack and actually make money in the process as opposed to just getting a discounted mortgage. So my question is has anyone hacked into a commercial sized property (meaning 5+)? Ive found a few three and four family places, but I keep asking myself if maybe owner occupying something like a 6/7/8 plex would be even better? Obviously there is more work with the bigger property but there is also a lot more reward. I'm just more concerned about potential tax issues with an owner occupied commercial property. Has anyone had any experience with this?

[Jared Stroebele]

House Hacking seems to be done to lock in favorable owner occupied financing. Either low money down or better interest rates.  It also provides an "easy" way to get the 1-2 years of landlording experience that banks often require for full-fledged investment property.

I would run the numbers but if you have the 25% down for a larger commercial building and are already living in a discounted mortgage situation it might be better to stay in the duplex and manage an 8 unit you don't live in.