Analyzing a House Hack Deal

[Andrew McFarlane]

Hey Everyone,

How do you best go about analyzing a house hack deal? 

Do you factor in the money you are not paying into your "gross income" on the property? Or do you only use the rent from the other unit(s) in your calculation. 

I'm currently looking at some duplexes in my area that I would like to house hack with, but using the BP Rental Calculator makes the deal look "bad."  I can make triplexes and fourplexes look pretty good, however, those tend to be slightly out of my price range at the moment.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Mike Huang]

Use your actual cash flow as your income numbers. Any money you're saving by living in one of the units doesn't go into your cash flow.

The BP Rental Calculator is pretty on point. Nothing can "make a deal look bad". The deal is either good or bad depending on its financials and how it suits your goals. Unless you mean you can do value-add to the property to increase its rent?