Is house hacking still worth it in San Jose?

[Yesh Ravi]

I live in an expensive market and was preparing to house hack in San Jose, CA or the Bay Area in general. But post COVID, with companies moving towards permanent WFH, is it still worth it to house hack here?

I'm wondering if tenants would still want to live in a house hacked smaller homes when they can rent a larger home 40-50 miles away from the cities for similar price.

What are the reasons you think that one would still choose to live in densely populated cities? Or would they?

[Brian Larson]

WFH is not a one-size-fits-all.  Most software-based companies like Twitter and Facebook can afford to do this but many hardware-based companies like Apple need people in the office to work on equipment and maintain secrecy around their IP. I think it would be foolish to this that there is going to be any major shifts in the business workplace in the long term.

Additionally, I DO think it is a valid concern about people co-living / house-hacking with a pandemic going on but, again, I do not think that is a long term problem.

Lastly, I think living far away from work brings a poor quality of life and I would be willing to bet many people who are smart enough to think this way would be good renters for a house-hack.

Curious to hear some different opinions out there though.