Seeking Advice: House Hacking with Airbnb and Second Mortgages

[Luis Ramirez]

Hi BiggerPockets Community,

I’m exploring house hacking using Airbnb as part of my real estate strategy, and I’ve come across a challenge I’m hoping you can help me with. I recently learned that income earned through Airbnb often doesn’t qualify as eligible income when applying for a second mortgage.

For those of you who’ve used Airbnb as part of your house hacking approach, how did you navigate this issue? Were you able to find a way to make that income count, or did you pursue alternative strategies to qualify for financing?

Additionally, I've been wondering if it might be possible to create an LLC, rent my house to the LLC through a formal contract, and then have the LLC operate the Airbnb. Would the income earned by the LLC potentially qualify as eligible income for mortgage purposes in this case?

I’d love to hear about your experiences or any creative suggestions you might have for overcoming these obstacles.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Best regards,

Luis Ramirez

[Derek Brickley]

Hey Luis, wish I had some advice but never seen that done successfully on a househack.  The problem is, airbnb income is not considered "stable" so for qualifying purposes there isn't a way to project that accurately if there isn't any previous rental history for the property.  For investment properties sometimes you can do this if there is a history or using Airdna but never for primary residence purchases.