Paying Yourself Rent

[Jonathan Bombaci]

We work with lots of clients off Biggerpockets and while I realize “Living For Free” is the dream, and we’ve helped many people achieve that, it is still okay to pay yourself some rent.

My first househack was a 3 family outside of Hartford CT and the other 2 units brought in about $1700 a month. My mortgage (PITI) was about $100 higher than that and I had to pay the water/sewer, Maintance, capex, and manage the property. I "paid myself $500 a month" but I was living in the largest, nicest apartment that could be rented for over $1000 a month while paying down my mortgage and building equity. To me that's still a huge win when looking at renting as the alternative. After a couple of years of raising rents and taking on a roommate I was actually getting paid to live there. Then when I moved out and rented the unit I was living in it became a very cashflow positive rental property.

In expensive markets like Greater Boston it’s hard to find a property where you can truly Live For Free but living for less in an apartment you own is still a fantastic way to get started in real estate.

Has anyone else done this? And if so how did it turn out? 

Best,

Jon