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Updated 11 months ago on . Most recent reply
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House Hack Numbers Not Working (Follow up with a deal analysis)
Hey BP,
I recently shared some of my woes in finding a house hack deal that works numbers-wise so I wanted to share the details. Trying to consider the long term wealth benefits of owning real estate and not just the numbers themselves. My goal is to pay less than I would renting and get my feet wet with REI and landlording without bleeding too much every month. Please scrutinize the crap out of my numbers!
I'm going to paste a photo of my analysis so I don't have to type everything out but wanted to call out a few things:
-This is a duplex house hack where my fiance and I would be taking over one of the units.
-Taking 10% reserve for vacancy, PM, and Capex
-5% for repairs
-All other numbers are standard values based on my area. Need to do some more digging into utilities though.
-Current market rent is $1,250 per unit
Here is what numbers look like when I live there:
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We currently pay $1,450/month in rent right now so that's something to consider. We'd be paying less than we would renting after taking conservative reserves.
Here is what numbers look like when I move out:
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Negative cash flow but
1. Rate is 7%
2. Only put 5% down
3. Cash on Cash return is 52.7% (obviously we will put more cash into things throughout the year which will make the COCR lower.
Would love to hear people's thoughts! Thanks for your time :)
-Ben, aspiring multifamily house hacker
Most Popular Reply
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Quote from @Benjamin Sulka:
Hey BP,
I recently shared some of my woes in finding a house hack deal that works numbers-wise so I wanted to share the details. Trying to consider the long term wealth benefits of owning real estate and not just the numbers themselves. My goal is to pay less than I would renting and get my feet wet with REI and landlording without bleeding too much every month. Please scrutinize the crap out of my numbers!
I'm going to paste a photo of my analysis so I don't have to type everything out but wanted to call out a few things:
-This is a duplex house hack where my fiance and I would be taking over one of the units.
-Taking 10% reserve for vacancy, PM, and Capex
-5% for repairs
-All other numbers are standard values based on my area. Need to do some more digging into utilities though.
-Current market rent is $1,250 per unit
Here is what numbers look like when I live there:

We currently pay $1,450/month in rent right now so that's something to consider. We'd be paying less than we would renting after taking conservative reserves.
Here is what numbers look like when I move out:

Negative cash flow but
1. Rate is 7%
2. Only put 5% down
3. Cash on Cash return is 52.7% (obviously we will put more cash into things throughout the year which will make the COCR lower.
Would love to hear people's thoughts! Thanks for your time :)
-Ben, aspiring multifamily house hacker
I input your assumptions into my model, but leaned less punitively. I'm curious about the high cable expense and $2,400 in utilities. Additionally, why is your capital expenditure so high — is this an older property?
You have the flexibility to adjust the assumptions in the model. Underwriting assumes 48% NOI margin and your cap rate is significantly lower than your cost of capital, resulting in negative cash flow. Also, your 7-year IRR is negative, which is concerning. COC calculates cashflow after debt.
Hope this helps!