House Hackers: Did You Let Your Tenants Know You Were the Owner?

Question

I’m about to move into a triplex I just bought as an owner-occupant — I’ll be living in one unit and renting out the other two.

This might sound like a small detail, but I’ve been thinking a lot about how to handle tenant interactions now that I’ll be living in the building:

• Did you let your tenants know you’re the owner?
• Or did you present yourself more as a property manager/representative to keep it professional and protect boundaries?

Did you let your tenants know you’re the owner?

Or did you present yourself more as a property manager/representative to keep it professional and protect boundaries?

I’d love to hear how other house hackers navigated this.

Also — curious how you handled rent collection and expenses:

• Did you set up a separate checking or HYSA just for the property?
• How did you keep things clean for taxes and budgeting without it getting messy with your personal finances?

Did you set up a separate checking or HYSA just for the property?

How did you keep things clean for taxes and budgeting without it getting messy with your personal finances?

I want to start off on the right foot but also not overcomplicate things.

Would appreciate any lessons or best practices from folks who’ve been through it

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Oliver Martinez you will notice two opinions on your question.

1) Transparency: letting tenants know you are the owner.
The majority of those recommending this have finite experience. Either they are dealing ONLY with Class A (maybe Class B) tenants or they just haven't done it long enough to have a bad experience.

2) Business-minded: keep it all business with tenants, so why tell them you are the owner?
Your biggest challenge with doing this is protecting your mail - if the tenants see it, they will know. Suggest you get a PO Box ASAP!

You can pick either option, but let me give you a story to think about.

Second rental I bought was a Class B rental, with a Class C tenant in it. Met tenants and used to pick up their rent (BIG mistake!). Even did my own repairs and was very cordial and understanding with them - husband & wife with twins boys. They kept falling behind on rent. Got worse & worse. Started eviction process several times, but then they'd pay. Finally went through with an eviction because they were 3 months behind (another mistake on my part!) and broke promises to pay. Upon TakeOver, discovered they broke every door, punched holes in all the walls and there was human excrement on the walls! Found out they moved one block down from my house. Knew the guy had a paid off Harley-Davidson. My attorney had the bike collected by the sheriff - got my money 2 days later.

All good so far, right?

Then my wife calls me when I'm out on a Friday night with friends. She had to call the police when the former tenant and his biker buddies paid our home a visit, knocked on our door and threatened her. Wife wanted me to sell all our rentals at that point!

To keep her happy & avoid selling, I never again told a tenant I was the owner, stopped collecing rent in person, if I did repairs I was just the hired handyman, got a PO Box, setup LLCs to hide my ownership, etc.

Ever since then my mantra is: NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS FROM TENANTS KNOWING YOU ARE THE OWNER!

Calvin Thomas · Answer

As a person who owns a good amount of rentals, I would tell you NOT to inform anyone that you are the owner.  You should pretend to be another tenant and find a real estate agent or property manager to handle the issues with the other tenants.  Also, any of your important mail should be sent to a PO Box or UPS Store.

When things are fine, no worries.  If there is an issue or eviction, then there can be a problem.

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Oliver Martinez I’ve house hacked for 28 years. For the first 23 renting rooms in my house and for the last five living in one side of a duplex.

My tenants have always known I’m the owner and it’s never been an issue. In fact, all my tenants in all my properties know I’m the owner and it’s never been an issue.

I have always maintained separate accounts for my properties. It can be a tax issue if you commingle funds. I believe your account can be frozen by the IRS if they start investigating you or auditing you if you’ve commingled funds.

I actually keep a separate account for each property which adds a little to my bookkeeping but gives me an instant snapshot of what’s going on with each individual property.

Some investors like separate accounts and some like one operating account for all their properties. It’s a personal preference.

John Litz · Answer

Have house hacked for 13yrs in a duplex. Tenants have always known I am the owner. I have nothing to hide. To mitigate liability, I make sure any issues are fixed right away, keep good home owners insurance, have a large umbrella insurance, and keep a mortgage on the property so if I get sued the bank lawyers also help fight. I use Hemlane for rent collection, finding tenants and vetting tenants. My bank accounts are separate from my personal account to make it so much easier to see profit/loss and taxes. Every property should cash flow and pay for itself, no alligators !!!

Gregory Schwartz · Answer

Love house hackers. It shows a level of commitment to your financial future that others arent willing to do. It feels weird to interact with your neighbors while also being their landlord. I felt the same way when my wife and I moved into our first house, a fourplex. What we found is that it was just easier for us to be upfront and transparent. It was a lot easier to communicate without having to create this fictional landlord who was collecting rent from us and the other tenants. We also set up a DBA and a business checking account for all the rent to be paid into and bills to be paid out of. This made it easy for us to track expenses and way easier on our CPA at the end of the year.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Nicole Heasley Beitenman · Answer

Hey Oliver! So excited you're house hacking. It's such a huge boost to your financial health.

I'm a bookkeeper/accountant, and I house hacked a SFH for 3 years. I did tell the tenants I was the owner. I didn't set up a separate checking for the property, but looking back, I wish I had. I would have set up a separate bank account and credit card for that property. All utilities, repair/maintenance expenses, reserves, mortgage payments, and rent payments would flow into/out of that account. You may also want to connect your cell phone and internet to those accounts too, as those expenses are deductible.

The other thing I would have done differently is set up a formal rent collection system like RentRedi. Since your tenants aren't in the same unit as you, that will also be handy for maintenance requests.

Set yourself up with a good bookkeeping system. I use Wave, but I also work in Quickbooks and Xero.

You can probably manage taxes yourself for just one property, but if you intend to acquire more, it definitely won't hurt to find a tax preparer now who specializes in REI.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I'm not a CPA or attorney.

Kenneth Williams · Answer

Congratulations on getting the triplex and it's very smart to move into one of the units. You definitely want to present yourself as the property manager. I would do this so that there is some distance between you and the tenants. Also, keep everything as separate as possible. I have a separate bank account and credit just for my investment property. It makes things very easy when tax time comes around. Hope this helped. If you need anything feel free to message me anytime!

House Hackers: Did You Let Your Tenants Know You Were the Owner?

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