house hacking in austin

[Nicolas A Botello Jr]

Howdy,

I'm looking to try house hacking in Austin, thinking it'd be best to get a 400kish 4 bed 2+ bath in a SFH with a FHA (3.5% down) and was wondering what are the going rates for renting a room in Austin and any tips or tricks that help with the process and if it gets a lot harder after moving out of the house (plan on living 2-3 years in it ideally).

Also, random side note, Is a room 10ft by 11ft too small to rent? 

A lot of the houses I see won't cash flow if you do traditional and so it seems to me the only way I would be able to do this is by renting by the room.

Thanks in advance

[Devin Dang]

Hey Nicolas!

I'm also house hacking a SFH here in Northeast Austin and I'm able to get $700 for my smaller 10x10 rooms and $900 for my master, base rent before utility payment. Could probably get a little more if I really wanted to squeeze it. With increasing prices, 400k is difficult to cash flow but will still significantly reduce your housing expense.

If cash flow is extremely important, couple levers you could pull:

(1) Rent out the master to close the gap

(2) Consider 5 bed and you'll cash flow at that price range. If no 5 beds are available, can get creative with an extra office room, adu, converted garage

(3) Rent by the room off airbnb for monthly room rentals for more cash flow