House Hacking - paying expenses the first year; cash flowing next

[Sean Eads]

Looking at a duplex to house hack as my first property. It's looking like the one unit I plan to rent out will cover the mortgage payment but I am still left with an estimated 2-300 hundred in expenses that I will pay out of pocket monthly. With those that have successfully house hacked, was it normal to have some out of pocket monthly expenses the first year or did you guys break even and/or profit from the deal monthly?

Of note. If I move out after a year or two and rent out both units the cash flow will be around 450-550. Do you guys like this deal?

[Michelle Bright]

Hi @Sean Eads! 

I believe house hacking is one of the best ways to get started!! My husband and I purchased our first property/ house hack in Fort Wayne, IN during 2015. Roughly speaking we had to pay $58 towards our mortgage every month (the tenant's rent covered the majority of it) plus the shared water bill which usually averaged about $100. Other services we paid for were yard maintenance, quarterly pest control and of course any maintenance issues. So in total we roughly paid about $100-$200 out of pocket monthly. Even though we had to come out of pocket monthly house hacking dramatically reduced our living expenses!!  So much that we were able to pay off about $6,000 in debt. We also were also able to purchase our second property within 8 months and put down 25% to obtain a conventional loan. This is of course while living mindfully and below our means. 

We moved out of the property and out of state right at the year mark because we were relocated for work. We had purchased it with an FHA loan. Note you must live in the property at least one yr if you get an FHA mortgage on it. We will not be refinancing it until we can drop off the PMI payment. Once we pay down the mortgage enough we probably will. Interest rates hopefully won't matter too much because the tenant will be paying it. Upon moving out, fixing up our unit and flipping the other unit we now cash flow about $600 a month.

Our situation isn't very common but I want to share it as much as possible because we just never know where life takes us, you know? My husband's employer moved us over 100 miles from our primary residence and therefore we qualify for a second 3.5% down FHA loan. We are in the process of starting that next purchase. There are a few clauses that can get one approved for another FHA loan but I would recommend talking to loan officers (yes, plural) and discussing with them your big plan and what you are trying to do.

I would say jump into a house hack for sure! Reach out if you have any other questions. Love to help!