All Forum Posts by: Christina I.

 I’ve been house hacking for several years. What works best for me with showings is I inform that roommates that there will showings on the property. For the roommate that is moving out, I let them know when I will be showing it. So far I haven’t had any issues with this method. I have one roommate who as been with me for multiple years who is retired. I usually let him know when it will be as well and allow him to be present so that he can meet however the potential roommate will be if he wants. 

For common area repairs, I just let everyone know when it will be done.  A lot of times I send it as a group text to the household to let them know. If it is something like the kitchen or bathroom that might be unavailable during that time I let them know that as well. 

I have a property that I found that I am unsure is a good deal or not. Overall the house isn't all that old (2015) and appears to be in decent condition. From what I could tell when I viewed it the house needs some cosmetic work (flooring, paint, etc.) but nothing major which leads me to think there is some BRRRR potential. My hesitation is that it is currently leased $700 under market value until the end of May. I would definitely NOT be renewing the lease with the current tenants as I know that they are not the quality of tenants I could get or would want to have. I would bring the rent up to market rates after the current lease expires. After accounting for the rent loss until the current lease expires, the numbers make sense and I would see about a 7% cash-on-cash return. My concern is that when I give the tenants their notice I see a strong possibility that they will trash the place. Should I take a chance and buy the property as a rental or should I keep looking? What other things could go wrong that I haven't thought of?

@David Pai

Rental property insurance covers your property and lost rent, that is correct. However it doesn’t cover any of the renter’s belongings should something happen. Renters insurance covers the renters personal property, liability (they have a guest over that injures themselves on the property, etc.

@Lisa Green

I can second the recommendation for using Cozy. That’s what I use and have been very happy with it. You can set it up so that the tenant pays the fee. It is only $40 for both the background and credit check. I like that it is integrated into cozy which is what I use for managing all payments for my tenants.

@Kelly Andrus

I would recommend getting in touch with a real estate agent. I know that when I was looking for my first property he had a whole bunch that he knew were going to be on the market soon and discussed those options with me to consider so that I had the option. It definitely was an advantage.

@Steven Sestir

I wouldn’t say that you are doing anything wrong unless your objective is to have a large cash flow as well. The main idea behind house hacking is living for free (aka your tenants pay enough to pay the mortgage). Even if you only have a small amount in positive cash flow you have, at least at the most basic level, achieved a house hacking. If you’re looking to turn a larger cash flow then that’s when you need to look at other things.

I am currently house hacking my property and it covers all my house expenses. There’s not a huge cash flow, but it enables me to take what I would have otherwise paid out-of-pocket and save it towards a down payment for my next property.

I bought my first property last year. It's a SFH that I am currently house hacking. Still actively saving and hoping to get my next property in the next year or two!

@Marvin Meng

I have been house hacking for a year now and have been exclusively using Cozy to collect rent. It super easy for me and my renters and there are no fees for me unless I want to expedite the payment (I don’t use this). I can highly recommend it!

@Lindel Turner

You can put the trust on the membership benefit of the LLC. By putting the LLC in a trust your heirs can avoid probate. I'm in the process of setting of this structure myself.

@Maksim Easley

Congrats! I too am house hacking and have a lot of success with it.

First, make sure you have a lease agreement in place. It should cover rules, fees, rent, protocols for how to communicate repair needs, etc. Having one will save you a lot of headache. I do month-to-month for all my “roommates” because you never know how things will work and that way you always have a way out.

As for writing the lease agreement, there are a few options. You can see if your state has a template that you can use, search for a free template for your state online (there are numerous of them), or do what I did and custom built my lease agreement based on the state template I had and then verified with my friend who is a real estate attorney that it was legal within my state and that it would be legally binding.

Keep all your receipts and and records of income for when tax time rolls around. I personally use a CPA that I have been with for over a decade and she is phenomenal and always finds deductions that I would never find on my own (mind you, my taxes are also more complicated due to the nature of my work and the various investments I hold). Personally, I feel that a good CPA is worth more than what you will pay.

Hope this helps and good luck!