Cleveland House hacking

[Brandon Metz]

Id say i look at and run numbers on at least 10 properties a day to learn how to better do analysis and i noticed a trend i feel only house hackers can answer. I see a lot of properties that can do decent cash flow to start in the Cleveland area but with one major exception. You lose so much rental income when you must occupy one of the units. When i apply the 50/50 rule for maintenance then apply the rest to property taxes,mortgage and homeowners insurance ive noticed cash flows will usually be negative about $150-$200 even when the property passes the 2% test. This seems like its quite common with house hacking but i am still determined this is the route i want to go to to the great benefits of the VA home loan. (no PMI is my favorite :} ). I just wanted to get an opinion from other fellow house hackers if living a little in the red is such a bad idea. after all paying about $200 a month out of my own pocket is still significantly different than my current $800 rent i pay.