Primary home house hacking to film companies.

[Allen Tracy]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Chatsworth.

Purchase price: $760,000
Cash invested: $330,000

My primary home that I house hack and rent out to film companies for movies, television, and commercials. Some of my clients have been Honda, Lifetime Network, Disney, Harbor Freight, Orbit Gum, Lionsgate Studios. The rental income covers my mortgage. Instead of having one person rent for 30 days I have 30 people rent for one day averaging about once a month. I also took out a HELOC on this property which enabled me to purchase duplexes out of state.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

When we were visiting the home during an open house we noticed there were some filmings happening down the road. We asked the seller's realtor about it and he confirmed there were a few houses in the area that made good money renting out their home to film crews.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on Zillow, negotiated through realtor.

How did you finance this deal?

40% down to get monthly payments down to manageable amount. I was able to pull this money back out as a HELOC at a later time.

How did you add value to the deal?

I started marketing this property to film companies.

What was the outcome?

The rental income covers our mortgage.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Banks will not consider the money from the filming rentals as income when trying to get a loan because it's not steady rent. Set rules for each film shoot or else they will go through your closets, take naps in your beds, bring pets into your homes, borrow personal items, and leave tons of garbage behind. Also, the really large film shoots may pay a lot of money but they are very hard on the home and the neighborhood.