House Hack Calculations

[Cody Friedrich]

Hi All - I have recently moved to Dallas, Texas and I'm looking to continue my real estate investment journey. I currently own a duplex in Indiana and bought it using a conventional investment loan. I'm now looking to house hack in Dallas or the surrounding areas (likely Arlington) but am a bit stuck on how to run the numbers.

When calculating cash flow on the my duplex in Indiana I took into account PITI, vacancy reserves, maintenance and repairs reserves and utilities to get down to my net cash flow amount.

When running the same calculations using 5% down on the house hack, I find myself quite a bit in the negative. Understood there are other factors to account for including loan pay down, tax benefits, lower rent etc. However, if my goal is to house hack this for a year and then move into another house hack, should I be looking to at least break even accounting for all expenses mentioned above? I just want to make sure I set myself up for a smooth exit into another property. If helpful, I can posit an example of penciled numbers.

Would love to know y'alls thoughts and appreciate any insights!

[Cody Friedrich]

Quote from @Rick Albert:

The reality is if you are putting 5% down and the numbers work, why wouldn't an investor putting 20% down just buy it? This is an expectations issue, not a calculation one.

With that said, you need to be looking at properties where you can add units and/or bedrooms. For example, you are looking at a four bedroom house but you can enclose the dining room into a 5th bedroom. Another example is converting the garage into an Accessory Dwelling Unit. These types of improvements increase your house hacking income. 

 Rick - Agree with this fully. Thanks.